Unfortunately, we are all good at judging others. It is easy to look at the sins of the people around us and gossip about them and their wrongdoings. It is easy to say, “How could they do that?” While we may not realize it, this behavior is rooted in pride. Pride causes us to hyperfocus on the sins of the people around us while at the same time minimizing our own sins. If we want to rid ourselves of pride in our lives, we have to acknowledge our sins and take them seriously.
Isaiah 59 reveals the severity of sin. In this passage of Scripture, the prophet Isaiah wrote, "It's your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, He has turned away and will not listen anymore" (verse 2). The impact of our sin is devastating. It cuts us "off from God." Sin destroyed the beautiful relationship that existed between God and humans before sin. Sin severed the closeness that we have with Him. Because God is holy and perfect, He turns His back away from our sins. This is not something to take lightly. This knowledge should lead to grief over our sins because our sin breaks God’s heart.
Praise God that our sin is not the end of the story! He sent His Son, Jesus, to rescue us from sin and restore our relationship with Him. Christ offers forgiveness and hope, but we must not too quickly minimize our sins, treating our sins as insignificant. All sin breaks God's heart and must be treated as devastatingly as it is. This means that each one of us must take our sins seriously, knowing that our sins required Christ's sacrifice on the cross. When we have this perspective, we take our eyes off of the sins of others and focus on repenting from turning from our sins, knowing that God is gracious and will extend forgiveness when we turn to Him.
It is time for each one of us to take our sins seriously. Spend a few moments in prayer, confessing your sin to God. Acknowledge that your sin came with a great cost: the death of Christ on the cross in order to rescue you from sin. Ask Him to give you a heart that grieves over your sin and to help you let go of the sin in your life. Thank Him for the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross in order to rescue you from sin.
1Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you,
nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call.
2 It’s your sins that have cut you off from God.
Because of your sins, he has turned away
and will not listen anymore.
3 Your hands are the hands of murderers,
and your fingers are filthy with sin.
Your lips are full of lies,
and your mouth spews corruption.
4 No one cares about being fair and honest.
The people’s lawsuits are based on lies.
They conceive evil deeds
and then give birth to sin.
5 They hatch deadly snakes
and weave spiders’ webs.
Whoever eats their eggs will die;
whoever cracks them will hatch a viper.
6 Their webs can’t be made into clothing,
and nothing they do is productive.
All their activity is filled with sin,
and violence is their trademark.
7 Their feet run to do evil,
and they rush to commit murder.
They think only about sinning.
Misery and destruction always follow them.
8 They don’t know where to find peace
or what it means to be just and good.
They have mapped out crooked roads,
and no one who follows them knows a moment’s peace.
9 So there is no justice among us,
and we know nothing about right living.
We look for light but find only darkness.
We look for bright skies but walk in gloom.
10 We grope like the blind along a wall,
feeling our way like people without eyes.
Even at brightest noontime,
we stumble as though it were dark.
Among the living,
we are like the dead.
11 We growl like hungry bears;
we moan like mournful doves.
We look for justice, but it never comes.
We look for rescue, but it is far away from us.
12 For our sins are piled up before God
and testify against us.
Yes, we know what sinners we are.
13 We know we have rebelled and have denied the Lord.
We have turned our backs on our God.
We know how unfair and oppressive we have been,
carefully planning our deceitful lies.
14 Our courts oppose the righteous,
and justice is nowhere to be found.
Truth stumbles in the streets,
and honesty has been outlawed.
15 Yes, truth is gone,
and anyone who renounces evil is attacked.
The Lord looked and was displeased
to find there was no justice.
16 He was amazed to see that no one intervened
to help the oppressed.
So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm,
and his justice sustained him.
17 He put on righteousness as his body armor
and placed the helmet of salvation on his head.
He clothed himself with a robe of vengeance
and wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion.
18 He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds.
His fury will fall on his foes.
He will pay them back even to the ends of the earth.
19 In the west, people will respect the name of the Lord;
in the east, they will glorify him.
For he will come like a raging flood tide
driven by the breath of the Lord.
20 “The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem
to buy back those in Israel
who have turned from their sins,”
says the Lord.
21 “And this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children’s children forever. I, the Lord, have spoken!
