SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 1-6
God is struggling with how His missionary people have missed the point.
They go through religious motions, but their hearts are arrogant, greedy and cruel.
Through Isaiah God warns them that they need to change, or risk being ‘fired’.
Compare this to when Jesus warns the religious leaders of His day (Isaiah 5:8-23; Luke 11:37-54).
God is not interested in our being religious (Isaiah 1:10-15); He wants us to do what is right (Isaiah 1:16-17).
God doesn’t care if we go to church, sing songs, give to the offering, read our bible, etc., if we are not being kind and fair and loving and generous and just and merciful and… like Jesus, like God!
It seems that God’s people are often forgetting what really matters to God.
Although these words speak to a different time and culture, we can still hear God’s frustration and passion.
Still today, God wants a people who care more about others than themselves.
Still today, God hates hollow religion when it is a cloak covering arrogance, greed and cruelty.
Still today God is willing to forgive people who repent, and send them out on His behalf.
“Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” (Isaiah 6:8)
God is still looking for people to join with Jesus in showing and sharing His kingdom priorities and values.
And God is still frustrated and angry that His missionary people still seem to miss the point.
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
God, thank You for forgiving me, and resending me out on Your behalf. Help me to strive to be righteous (i.e. to live rightly), and not just religious.