Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,
Isaiah 1:16
In Isaiah chapter 1 God had enough of Judah’s meaningless worship. The evil king, Ahaz, and the evil leadership of the nation had spilt over into the mindset of the people.
God said in verse 11 that their sacrifices and burnt offerings were dissatisfying to Him. They were meaningless and not from the heart. God said enough is enough!
Have you ever been part of something that seemed meaningless to you? Maybe it was a lame business proposal or even a job that was not giving you a purpose. Or maybe you’ve just been going through the motions but not connecting physically, mentally, or spiritually.
Take note of what you’re doing because if you’re not giving your whole heart to it, you’re just wasting valuable time and energy. If your heart is not in it nothing great will come of it.
God had a solution for Judah’s problem beginning in verse 16. He said the first thing they needed to do is to be washed and cleansed from all evil. Then their worship to Him would mean something special. Obviously their worship was so routine and ritual that they were just following instructions and not worshipping from the heart.
It’s easy for us to follow the same behavior. We can get caught up in the routine, day in and day out, meaningless activities of life and lose the purpose of what God has set before us.
We must live in this world but be different from this world (Romans 12:1-2). And our worship to God needs to be meaningful. We need to have our hearts renewed and cleansed from all evil to make our daily, living sacrifice mean something special to God.
Going through the motions is not enough. Jesus said we need to be either hot or cold, but not lukewarm. Is your heart on fire for God? Is your worship to God straight from the heart? If not you have the solution.
Pray
Lord, I live this day for You and for Your glory. I ask that you remove all evil from my heart and mind and give me joy to live freely in Your will.
