It’s time we focus on our own sins

By Anne Graham Lotz
Religion News Service

When I attended the “The Hand of God in U.S. Politics” seminar at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the attendees seemed alarmed about the power of “the religious right.” As the panelists and attendees voiced their concern, I sat quietly wondering, “How is it that when the world thinks of American evangelicals, it thinks primarily of political issues instead of our love for others or our loyalty to Jesus?” It occurred to me that the misconception may be our own fault. Could it be that we have gone “off message”?

In the Old Testament, God said, “If my people, who are called by my name, would humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I would hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.” We love to sing “God Bless America,” but it’s interesting to note that God’s blessing–his healing of our land–is directly related, not to politics or to public policy or to government programs or to social justice or to racial equality or to welfare reform or to taxation or education or health care or affordable housing, but to the humble repentance and prayerful devotion of his own people!

I believe it’s time for Christians to repent of sin and refocus on Jesus. We need the same kind of personal revival that was experienced by the Old Testament prophet Isaiah.

In the first few years of Isaiah’s ministry, he was filled with righteous indignation at what he believed to be the sins of the nation of Judah. Hurling his words of blame at the world around him, he pointed out their many sins and thundered, “Woe to you … Woe to you … Woe to you …”

Isaiah’s no-holds-barred indictment seems to echo through the centuries, and I find myself wanting to join him. Often when I hear or see the news, I, too, have an overwhelming desire to point my finger and thunder, “Woe to you, woe to you, woe to you!” Like Isaiah, my focus can be entirely on someone else’s sin!

But in the midst of his finger-pointing, Isaiah had an incredible experience. The Bible says he “saw the Lord.” And it changed him. No longer did he point his finger at others. Instead, he was overwhelmed with his own sinful condition and sobbed, “Woe to me!”

He made a startling discovery, blurting out, “I’m a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips.” In other words, he was struck by the knowledge that he was no better than the people at whom he’d been pointing his finger.

Like Isaiah, the evidence of sin in my own life has wrenched from my lips an echo of Isaiah’s outburst, “Woe to me!”

Perhaps it’s time we in the evangelical church in America stop our “Woe to you,” and instead, open our eyes, humble our hearts, lift up our voices in a collective cry of “Woe to me” and experience a fresh outpouring of God’s power through forgiveness.