Qadosh, Qadosh, Qadosh

When I talk about this it might seem rather funny to you or odd, because people don’t worry or care about such things today. Recent surveys in 2011 sum it up pretty well.

• 44% told the 2011 Baylor University Religion Survey they spend no time seeking "eternal wisdom," and 19% said "it's useless to search for meaning."

• 46% told a 2011 survey by Nashville-based evangelical research agency, LifeWay Research, they never wonder whether they will go to heaven.

• 28% told LifeWay "it's not a major priority in my life to find my deeper purpose." And 18% scoffed at the idea that God has a purpose or plan for everyone.

In other words, we are living in a “So What?” society. What does that mean for God? It means that people don’t really think about Him or care about Him any more.

I notice this in teaching children. More and more it seems that they’d rather be playing video games or texting their friends than listening to God’s Word. God’s Word is more a diversion from life than the focus of life. Several years ago a family that used to belong here finally came to church after weeks of contacting them. When they were in the service, the daughter sat and texted with her friends. I thought, “Really? How much more disrespectful can you get?” What is that but the devil’s work? The devil has been working overtime to attack your brains; to get you thinking that you need to constantly be talking with this person or that; checking this update and that; as if your whole world revolved around what your friends think of going to the pool or the latest restaurant; where your whole self worth revolves around whether someone likes your status or not.

The devil replaces your status with God with your status on Facebook or work. God, well you know He’s loving and all. You know He’s nice. You know Jesus died for you. What more do you need to know about or care about? Why worry about standing in His presence? Why think about how “holy” God is or not? What does it really matter in the big scheme of things? His holiness doesn’t pay your bills. His holiness doesn’t get you a raise. At least that’s the way you might think.

But when Isaiah actually was taken into the presence of the LORD, he realized how holy God really was; that even the angels blush in His presence! Even though he was a believer, he still had a profound sense of guilt and fear at that moment. He cried out, “Woe is me!” He never realized how holy the LORD really was, and he was scared he was going to die!

When I was in college I had a very good professor who demanded a lot of the student. I was too lazy to take his electives at the time because I didn’t want to do that much work. Now that I’m older, I wish I had because I could have learned so much more from him. When a child grows older he tends to think, “What do I need to listen to my parents for? They don’t know what they’re talking about. They’re out of my times. They don’t get it.” Then when they go through the school of hard knocks and they say, “I wish I had listened to my parents. I would have saved myself a lot of heartache, but I was too stubborn.”