GOD VALUES PURITY, BECAUSE GOD IS PURE.
Bible Reading of the Day: Read Isaiah 6:1-7.
Verse of the Day: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3, NIV).
Missy and April were playing croquet together in the backyard at Missy’s house. Missy’s father stood at the grill on the back porch, barbecuing their dinner.
April knocked her ball into Missy’s ball, sending it far from the closest wicket. Missy watched her ball roll farther and farther away, and then, in frustration, said a word she had heard April say many times in anger.
Missy didn’t say the word very loudly, but she suddenly felt afraid when she heard her father call from the porch.
“Missy, April,” he called, “would you both come here for a minute?”
The girls joined Missy’s dad by the grill. He pointed to a hot dog he had dropped onto the wood slats of the porch. “Either of you want that hot dog?” he asked.
“Eeww, gross!” April said. Missy wrinkled her nose and shook her head.
“Why not?” Dad said.
“It’s dirty,” Missy answered.
“Oh,” Dad said. “You’re right. It’s not very clean. Like your language just now. You see, girls,” Dad said, “purity isn’t just good for the things you put into your mouth; it’s good for the things that come out of your mouth. Purity is right, and impurity is wrong. Do you know why purity is right?”
Both girls shook their heads.
“Because God commands us to be pure,” Dad answered. “God commands us to be pure because God values purity. Do you know why God values purity?” Again they shook their heads.
“Because God is pure,” he said. He took a red-hot coal out of the grill and held it in a pair of tongs as he told them the story of Isaiah in the temple. “When Isaiah saw the holiness and purity of God, he was terrified because of his own impurity and sinfulness, until an angel touched his lips with a hot coal and told him his sin and guilt were gone. That’s how pure God is,” Dad explained, “so pure that nothing impure can survive in his presence. That’s why purity is right-”
“And impurity is wrong,” Missy said, finishing her dad’s sentence. “I’m sorry, Dad.”
“Well, here,” Dad said, holding the smoking coal toward his daughter with a teasing look in his eyes. “Let me touch your lips with this coal! That’ll make everything better!”
“No!” Missy screamed, as she and April ran away laughing.
TO DISCUSS: Why was Isaiah ashamed? How does the knowledge of impurity in our lives cause us to feel?
TO PRAY: “God, you are pure and holy, and you command us to be pure. Please purify our thoughts, Lord. Purify our words. And purify our lives so that we may please you in all that we do.”
