Isaiah

Is anyone different in gods eyes? Is the starving child considered more holy than the rich king? Is the generous person more loved by god than the thief? Is the murderer more loathed than the cancer ward nurse?

Or…is it true "we ALL, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way”?

Here is what one person says...
”Isaiah’s encounter with God's holiness is probably the most instructive for our case. In the sixth chapter of the book of Isaiah, this prophet describes how he was given a vision of the heavenly throne, with cherubim and seraphim continually crying, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." And what is the prophet's response? Rather than getting "caught up in a wonderful worship experience," Isaiah realizes something is dreadfully wrong. The problem was sin.

"Woe to me!" Isaiah cried. "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." Many today are claiming to have ecstatic mystical experiences with God (or simply with the divine), but what is notably missing from all these accounts, from whatever religious persuasion, is the conviction of sin. We simply cannot have a relationship with God until we face the fact of sin head on. Isaiah was not being melodramatic here. He knew that something was intrinsically wrong with the fact that he should behold God in all his Glory, for as God explained to Moses,"no man may see me and live" (Ex. 33:20).

But as Isaiah goes on to explain in his case, "one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." God provided a way, not by lowering his standards, but through atonement, "your guilt is taken away." And what God did for Isaiah in this passage was foreshadowing of greater things to come, things that would ultimately find their fulfillment in Christ. Isaiah himself writes of this coming one a few chapters later: See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted....he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him....he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities....We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on HIM (j.c) the iniquity of us all....Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days....(52:13, 15, 53:5, 6, 10).

If we are to have a relationship with the God of these inspired words, it behooves us to proceed according to the terms he has spelled out for us. If we do not keep God's holiness in mind, we will ultimately find that there is no need to focus on our sin, guilt, and conversely, Christ's atonement. It is interesting to note that this lack of emphasis on the central redemptive themes of the Bible used to be characteristic of liberal mainline churches, but now has become all too common even in conservative Christian circles. Therefore we must come to grips with God's holy character, and as a consequence, begin to reflect on our own sinfulness as a contrast to God's holiness. Once we engage in this process, the words God spoke to Isaiah can be fulfilled in us,

"For this is what the high and lofty One says--he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite" (Is. 57:15).

Here is the link to web page from which i stole all that: http://homepage.mac.com/shanerosenthal/reformationink/srmerit.htm