Growing Pains

“’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.’
Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”
Isaiah 6:5-8

Life Application (NIV Version) Bible Commentary on this:
“Before we accept God’s call to speak for Him to those around us, we must be cleansed as Isaiah was, confessing our sins and submitting to God’s control. Letting God purify us may be painful, but we must be purified so that we can truly represent God, who is pure and holy.”
Pretty good words. Key words that jump out at me are accept, cleansed, confess, submit, letting God. If we truly desire to be used by God, it takes recognition and action on our part.

I will be the first to fully AGREE that being molded into the man/woman of God that our Lord desires to see us become is not an easy, or pain-free, process. And depending on what age one finally throws their hands up and declares “Ok ok God! I get it. I can’t do it. Not my way. YOURS.” sets the bar for how much cleansing/damage control they will need from God for the matters they have acted on without God thus far in life. That declaration is the “foot in the door”. Then the “fun” begins. The cleansing/purification process. We humans loooove this. You know, the whole pulling old skeletons out of the closet, be it restoring a broken relationship, forgiving past hurts, etc. etc. We all have our secrets. And letting them out is particularly hard, but SO freeing once given to God. It’s painful in some respects, but a good painful.

What do I mean by “good painful”? Think of working out. The first few minutes are a breeze. Oh you might start to perspire a bit, but you’re feeling good. You got this thing handled. Then the minutes tick on. That perspiring turns into sweating, and breathing is getting a little labored. Not to mention, you can start to really feel each heart beat in your chest AND your muscles are starting to scream at you a bit. It’s not so comfortable anymore. But you don’t give up. And after you might feel a little weak and sore, but it is a satisfying weak/soreness. The next day is the best. It’s the oh-it-hurts-to-move-my-legs-arms-neck-or-any-body-limb-for-that-matter feeling that satisfies. It proves you got in a GREAT workout the day before, and you know your body will love you for pushing it to the point of that “good hurt.” AND if you keep it up, you get the rewarding results of big muscles (boys), and a toned up bods (girls). Who’s with me on that??

Apply that same logic to your growth as a man or woman of God. Getting to that “good hurt” is required in order to avoid becoming stagnant in your spiritual walk. Rewards are so much more satisfying when they require our blood, sweat, and tears. Not sure, why, but truth nonetheless. In fact, I will go as far to say that most anything (if not all) worthwhile in this life requires sacrifice from us.

I don’t know about you, but I’m willing to go through a little pain if that is what the purification process requires to make me holy, pleasing, and able to be of service, for my Father’s will.