Devotions

20220911

tolerating the small things

Ezekiel 18:14-18 (JDV)

Ezekiel 18:14 “Now notice he has a son who sees all the failures his father has committed, and though he sees them, he does not do likewise.
Ezekiel 18:15 He does not eat at the mountain shrines or look to the idols of the house of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor’s wife.
Ezekiel 18:16 He doesn’t oppress anyone, hold collateral, or commit robbery. He gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.
Ezekiel 18:17 He keeps his hand from harming the poor, not taking interest or profit on a loan. He practices my rules and follows my prescriptions. Such a person will not die for his father’s violation. He will certainly live.
Ezekiel 18:18 “As for his father, notice he will die for his own violation because he practiced fraud, robbed his brother, and did among his people what was not good.

tolerating the small things

I want to focus on just one sin of the many mentioned in today’s text. It may have seemed like a small thing, but Ezekiel called it a violation if someone ate at a mountain shrine. These were places set apart for pagan worship. It was probably something lots of peoiple did in secret because they were interested in how the pagans did things.

There are some small things that our generation indulges itself in, and those small things are killing us.

LORD, purify us before our toleration of the “small things” brings about our destruction.

20220908

defense or defender

Ezekiel 18:1-4 (JDV)

Ezekiel 18:1 The word of Yahveh happened to me. This is what it said:
Ezekiel 18:2 “What do you mean by using this proverb concerning the land of Israel: ‘The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?
Ezekiel 18:3 As I live” – this is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh – “you will no longer use this proverb in Israel.
Ezekiel 18:4 Notice, every throat belongs to me. The throat of the father is like the throat of the son – both belong to me. The throat who fails is the one who will die.

defense or defender

The LORD was tired of a people who kept blaming someone else for their sins. He reminded them that each individual possessed his own throat — and thus was responsible for his own life and his own appetite. Yet each was also responsible to him because every throat was his.

Our generation is also adept at blaming those who have gone before us. But on judgment day, “someone else did something else” will not cut it as a defense for our own sins. The books will be open, and those books record the personal choices of each defendant. The throat who fails is the one who will die.

The gospel challenges us all to realize that we have no one to blame but ourselves, so we have no defense. Therefore, we need a defender. Christ — the one who went to the cross for us — offers himself. We would be fools not to accept his offer.

LORD, we accept responsibility for our own actions and plead the blood of Christ for their atonement.