May the mumbling commence!
Ezekiel was called to watch and proclaim to a people who
only pretended to care. They would not
follow the Word of the Lord. But to
remain faithful, Ezekiel must speak God’s Word.
Read a couple of passages from Ezekiel chapter thirty-three:
"Now, son of man, I am making you a watchman for the
people of Israel. Therefore, listen to what I say and warn them for me. If I
announce that some wicked people are sure to die and you fail to
warn them about changing their ways,
then they will die in their sins, but I will hold you responsible for their
deaths.
But if you warn them to repent
and they don't repent, they will die in their sins, but you will not be held
responsible.” (Verses 7-9)
Warn people of their sins, and be
absolved of any responsibility. Speak
the Word of the Lord… that’s all we need to do.
Then, allow people to make their own decisions… which sometimes are not
the wisest decisions. Read further from
chapter thirty-three:
"Son of man, your people are whispering behind your
back. They talk about you in their houses and whisper about you at the doors,
saying, 'Come
on, let's have some fun! Let's go
hear the prophet tell us what the Lord
is saying!' So they come pretending to be sincere and sit before you listening. But they have no intention of doing what I tell
them. They express love with their
mouths, but their hearts seek only after money. You are very entertaining to them, like
someone who sings love songs with a beautiful voice or plays fine music on an
instrument. They hear what you say, but
they don't do it! But when all
these terrible things happen to them – as they certainly will – then they will
know a prophet has been among them." (Verses 30-33)
Shams may fool us, but they won’t fool God. Who is first in our love life? Is it God and living the life the Lord
originally intended for us to live? Or
is there some other god who has come between us? The prophet mentions money. Is money our bottom line rather than the Word
of God?
Let’s make the Word of God the bottom line for our
lives! And let’s not be offended by the
Words of our Lord. Read these words of
Jesus to the religious elite of his day, as recorded in John chapter seven:
So Jesus told them, "I'm not teaching my own ideas, but those of God who
sent me. Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is
from God or is merely my own. Those
who present their own ideas are looking for praise for themselves, but those
who seek to honor the one who sent them
are good and genuine. None of you
obeys the law of Moses! In fact, you are trying to kill me."
The crowd replied, "You're demon possessed! Who's
trying to kill you?"
Jesus replied, "I worked on the Sabbath by healing a man, and you were
offended. But you work on the Sabbath, too, when you obey Moses' law of circumcision.
(Actually, this tradition of circumcision is older than the law of Moses; it
goes back to Abraham.) For if the
correct time for circumcising your son falls on the Sabbath, you go ahead and
do it, so as not to break the law of Moses. So why should I be condemned for making a man completely well on the
Sabbath? Think this through and you will
see that I am right." (Verses 16-24)
The Word of the Lord, the Laws of the Lord were made for
our benefit not our demise. May we go
deeper to the root Spirit of the Word so that we may follow God as Jesus does.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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