Focal passage: Isaiah 6:1-13
When I was growing up, I loved to play all kinds of sports, even simple pick-up games. In those pick-up games, two captains would be chosen who would pick their own teams from the players who were available. You always knew the best players – those that could help a team win – were going to be picked first. Inevitably, there were those who were picked last. They were the ones with little ability and who were likely to hold the team back, or even cause the team to lose.
God did not choose Isaiah to serve His mission because Isaiah was sinless and strong. Isaiah wasn’t a holy man that God would send to wicked Judah. Isaiah was a sinful man that needed to be cleansed by a holy God. Isaiah needed God’s cleansing to be useful for God’s mission.
When God cleanses and transforms our lives, we are walking demonstrations of His power and glory at work in and through us. He then sends us, not in our ability and strength, but in His.
I’m afraid many Christians today, when it comes to being sent on God’s mission with God’s message (see 2 Corinthians 5:11-20), see themselves as those picked last. They think they are not nearly smart enough, or strong enough, or whatever, to be used by God. We fail to realize that God doesn’t send us on His mission because of our strength or ability. He sends us, knowing what He has done, and can do in and through us. The question is, in faith and surrender, will we say with our lives, “Here am I, send me.”