“Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,” (Isaiah 1:16)
Beloved, We have seen over the last several weeks that when we gain a correct understanding of the offenses our sin has perpetrated upon God’s holiness that genuine confession and repentance is the result. However, this confession and repentance is more than simply saying we are sorry for our actions; it moves us to change our behavior. The prophet Isaiah highlights this idea when he relays to us God’s command for us to remove our evil deeds from before Him. Before we accept this command too quickly, we must realize that “evil” is not restricted to immoral behavior but the term applies to anything that is displeasing to God or everything that dishonors His name. Even things that may be deemed legal or even acceptable by human standards are evil in God’s sight when they go against His word. This in fact broadens God’s command to cease doing evil to things that we may enjoy doing but yet disregard the holiness and righteousness of God. Simply put, we may believe that we are doing pretty good at not stealing someone else’s stuff but when was the last time we decided to sleep 15 minutes later and simply put off praying ferverently for God’s will to be done in your life by asking for His specific instructions on what to do, say or think. Worse yet, perhaps we don’t skip the prayer time but instead of interceding before God with brokenness (that is heartfelt sorrow) for God’s intervention in someone’s life, we filled our time with God with only the things I want to see or experience; in essence my “laundry list.” In God’s spiritual economy, this amounts to theft; theft of His time He has granted you, theft of the resources He has given you and theft of the mercy He has shown you by refusing to pray earnestly for those you know need God’s intervention. You see beloved, theft is more than stealing a brother’s stuff. While stopping any immoral behavior is important, it cannot stop there. We must remove the root of evil by allowing God to change completely our hearts, minds and attitudes. We must repent of all sin and allow God to clean us thoroughly from the inside out.
Word for the weak
Evil, רֹעַ (rōaʿ): n.(7455); wickedness, sinfulness, i.e., an action which is not morally pure or good according to a proper standard, implying this evil hinders or severs a relationship to a person or principle which is proper; of bad quality, i.e., an item having little or no value due to poor quality of an object.
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