Putting ourselves in Isaiah's place seeing His Majesty

WANTING THAT DIFFERENT KIND OF LIFE - The ruined soul must be willing to recognize its own ruin before it can discover how to enter a different path, the path of eternal life that naturally leads to spiritual formation in Christlikeness. This transformation is not something that may or may not be added on as an option to the gift of eternal life. It is the path one must be on in order to have an eternal kind of life. 

This transformation is not a project of “life enhancement,” where the life in question is that of “normal” human beings—a life apart from God. It is, rather, the process of developing a different kind of life, the life of God himself, sustained by God as a new reality in those who have confidence that Jesus is the anointed One, the Son of God. Those “in Christ”—that is, caught up in his life, in what he is doing, by the inward gift of birth from above—“are of a new making. The ‘old stuff’ no longer matters. It is the new that counts” (2 Corinthians 5:17, PAR). 

Here in this new creation is the radical goodness that alone can thoroughly renovate the heart. To profess Christ today involves little sorrow over who one is, or even for what one has done. Christians commonly speak of their “brokenness,” but they are usually talking about their wounds, the things they have suffered, not about the evil that is in them. 

Few today have discovered that they have been disastrously wrong and cannot change or escape the consequences of their wrongness on their own. There is little sense of “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5, KJV). 

Yet without this realization of our utter ruin, and without the genuine revising and redirecting of our lives that this bitter realization naturally gives rise to, no clear path to inner transformation can be found. We will steadfastly remain on the throne of our universe, perhaps trying to “use a little God” here and there. Becoming a “better Christian” doesn’t mean becoming a nicer version of ourselves or getting involved in the local church. Although those things may happen, focusing on such things misses the point. 

The life from above is a completely different kind of life that may seem odd to others. Building self-esteem or trying to look good doesn’t matter anymore. I’m now aware that I’m not okay. We’re all in serious trouble. The ones who are immersed in the life of God have a power and character that are strange to this world. They know they are dust (see Psalm 103:14) and have attached themselves to the life that is the “light of all mankind” (John 1:4, NIV). 

TODAY’S EXPERIMENT - Ponder Isaiah 6:1-8 using your imagination. King Uzziah has just died, so a prophet is needed more than ever. You—a young person, probably related to royalty—see in a vision the Lord seated on a throne that is so high that the tail of the Lord’s coat fills up the temple—as if the temple were filled with fog. You smell the smoke. Angels flap their wings, saying "HOLY...HOLY...HOLY!" 

In response to all this majesty, you throw yourself down, realizing your own ruined soul and how you had tried to maneuver yourself to replace God on that throne with your own self-will.

You cry out, "Woe to me!... "I am ruined! For I am...of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

Become, like Isaiah, caught up in the life of God and say, "Here am I; send me."

Johnson, Jan; Willard, Dallas. Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice: Experiments in Spiritual Transformation (Redefining Life) (p. 45). The Navigators. Kindle Edition.