God’s Holiness and Man’s Sinfulness

I want to talk about holiness for a second. For the past year and a half, I’ve been thinking a lot about the holiness of the Lord and the sinfulness of man, and those two things coming into contact. We see this actually happening in scripture. 

In Isaiah 6:1-3, Isaiah has a vision of the Lord. 

“...I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
    the whole earth is full of his glory.”

A vision of a holy God…with a bunch of strange-looking creatures around him called seraphim. The seraphim repeat the word “holy” three times, emphasizing the Lord’s holiness. Let’s look at the prophet’s response to coming face to face with God in this vision:

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Immediately, after Isaiah sees this vision of the Lord, he sees his own sinfulness. He recognizes that he is dirty and sinful, and he feels the weight of that. I relate a lot to Isaiah these days. As I continue to get closer to Christ. As I continue to read and pray and confess, especially in this season of my life, I feel…dirtier? Not in a shame way. But in a way that creates a pit in my stomach and a lump in my throat because of an awareness of my sinfulness, and leaves me begging for the Lord to make me clean and right with Him. I don’t think this is a bad thing. In fact, I think it is a really good thing. In my mind, the cross is bigger and greater in these seasons because I get to see my sin for what it really is. And that makes Jesus’ sacrifice so much greater.

Last year at a church service at my former church in Lubbock, my pastor was explaining what his walk with Jesus looked like in a chart form. This chart is at the top of this page for reference.

This felt like a great example of what I was feeling. As I continue to grow in my relationship with the Lord, the gap between His holiness and my sinfulness feels even bigger. And because of this big gap, the cross must become bigger. I’m thankful that during this season, the cross feels pretty big. But, it doesn’t always feel like that. 

If I could make an adjustment to the chart, I would probably make the lines more zig-zag while still corresponding with each other. Sometimes God's holiness doesn’t feel that holy to me and my sinfulness doesn't feel all that sinful to me. And if I’m being honest, I probably feel that way most of the time. Sometimes, it takes the Lord pulling me away from all the community that came so naturally to me in Lubbock, and dragging me to coffee shops in the middle of the Hill Country to see it. I am thankful for right now. And I am thankful that the cross is bigger than I will ever know on this side of eternity. And that I have seen a glimpse of the King, the Lord Almighty. 

Praying that you would encounter the Lord in such a way that makes you see your sin for what it is, and in turn realize how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ for you.