Something less

Something less. 

As I look at this passage, those words resonate in my heart and mind.

The Israelites brought offerings and sacrifices to God, but they were something less in His eyes because the people treated them as just religious and perhaps even superstitious ritual.

And so God said,

“The multitude of your sacrifices– what are they to me?” says the Lord.  “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?

Stop bringing meaningless offerings!  Your incense is detestable to me.  New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations– I cannot bear your evil assemblies.

Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates.  They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. (Isaiah 1:11-15)

Something less. 

Because of their evil, and because they turned their backs on God, the people themselves became something less.

At one time, they were a people married to God, his bride.  Now they were harlots offering themselves to other gods.

Something less.

God said of the people,

Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water.  (22)

A people that were once pure and whole in the eyes of God, were now tarnished by sin, their “righteousness” diluted by their wickedness, their worship of God diluted with idol worship.

He went on to tell them,

You will be like an oak with fading leaves, like a garden without water.

The mighty man will become tinder and his work a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench the fire.” (30-31)

A once proud nation, flourishing and strong, becoming something less.  Old.  Dying.  All their accomplishments ending in nothing.

When we turn our backs on God and sin, when we go our own way, we become something less, just as the Israelites did.

As with the Israelites, God desires to purge away the dross in our lives, and to remove our impurities.  (25)

The question is, will we cooperate, or will we fight against it?

When we cooperate, the process can still be difficult, but much less painful.  If we fight, the process can seem unbearable.

The Israelites had to be crushed before the dross and impurities could be done away with.  What will you do?

Let us not become something less.  Instead, let us strive to become all that God intended us to be.