◄ Unclean! Unclean! ►

 Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips...for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts'' (Isa. 6.5).

Paul wrote, In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thess. 5:18). This includes giving thanks for the disclosure of self! At first, we seek to hide our sinfulness and to save our life. Later, by His grace, we yearn to be freed from self, regardless of the cost. And the price is the Cross.

"Many a young Christian, who has not been forewarned of this necessary voyage of discovery upon which the Holy Spirit will certainly embark him (Romans Seven), has been plunged into almost incurable despair at the sight of the sinfulness which is his by nature. He has in the first place rejoiced greatly in the forgiveness of his sins, and his acceptance by God; but sooner or later he begins to realize that all is not well, and that he has failed and fallen from the high standard which he set himself to reach in the first flush of his conversion.

"Little does he know how healthy his condition is, and that this shattering discovery is but the prelude to a magnificent series of further discoveries of things which God has expressly designed for his eternal enrichment. All through life God has to show us our own utter sinfulness and need, in order to more fully lead us on into realms of grace." -J.C.M.

"But the Lord is faithfull, who shall establish you, and keep you from evil" (2 Thess. 3:3).