When is it 'Worth It'?
Valerie Ferrara
It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling out to each other,
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven's Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his glory!"
Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke. Then I said, "It's all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven's Armies." Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, "See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven."
Then I heard the Lord asking, "Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?" I said, "Here I am. Send me."
And he said, "Yes, go, and say to this people, 'Listen carefully, but do not understand. Watch closely, but learn nothing.' Harden the hearts of these people. Plug their ears and shut their eyes. That way, they will not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts and turn to me for healing." --Isaiah 6:1-10
Boston Trinity students were happy to welcome back Mr. Steve Armandt, former BTA Chaplain and Bible Department Chair, as Wednesday morning's Chapel speaker.
Mr. Armandt began by asking the students, "When do you say, 'Is it worth it'? We all know the things we think are worthwhile." Isaiah 6 tells of a momentous event; Isaiah saw what was worthy. Everything else faded in comparison. Isaiah's response was worship; when he heard God ask, "Whom should I send?" he responded, "Here I am! Send me!"
Mr. Armandt then connected worship to missions, saying, "You are only worthy to be sent out when you're sent from what is worthy." The word "mission" is from a Latin word that means "the act of being sent out."
"Missions isn't just going somewhere else," Mr. Armandt said. "It is not about traveling a physical distance, but is about spiritual distance." How can we be sent? We are not worthy, but God provides a way. He tells us, "Your guilt is taken away." God did not tell Isaiah to speak of the glory he had seen; rather, God said to tell the people, "You never listen!" God wanted them to hear how their lives needed to change.
"Whether or not something is 'worth it' is discovered in the really hard moments," Mr. Armandt said. "You see what is worthwhile. When you see what God has done in your life and share it – that is the center of the gospel. When you see what is worthy in God, you see the worth in yourself."
