May 25

The reference at Pentecost to the heart and the tongue being connected together (Acts 2:26) finds further confirmation in the book of James. James 3:6 says that the tongue is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body, and is set on fire by hell.

Anyone who has ever heard the blasphemous and wicked words of someone with no respect for God can amply testify to the truth of these words of James. But when a person is under the control of the Holy Spirit, the opposite is true: The words from such lips are sweet and pure and holy.

When Isaiah had a vision from God of God, what was the first thing he felt? He felt unclean. He mentions an overpowering sense of God's holiness, and then he feels his own sinfulness and unfitness to be in the presence of such holy cleanness. Isaiah's first request of God, then is most revealing, for he does not ask to see God's glory; he has already seen enough to overwhelm him. No, he asks for clean lips:

"Woe to me! . . . I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty" (Isaiah 6:5).

Scripture for today: Isaiah 6:1-7
Thought for today: Unclean lips cannot stand in the presence of God.
Prayer for today: Set watch over my lips, Lord, that I may not speak words unworthy of your holiness.

MAY 25