And behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
I remember sitting with my oldest son when he asked the LORD into his heart. It was a wonderful moment and a wonderful memory. As Christians we are the temple of the Spirit of God.
Think about that for a second.
This isn't figurative or symbolic. The Holy Spirit lives within you. Every action you have ... the LORD is right there with you and within you.
Use that thought as you live your life and walk the path God leads you on.
And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The Lord Is There.
Now, as you go about your day to day stuff. Can it be said of you "The LORD Is There"? The name Christian is a label. A label that I can't really claim on my own. It is to be "Christ-Like".
And, being like Christ is not really something I can declare for myself. It can only be seen by my actions. Yes my faith in Christ is how I am saved. But only by what I do can people see the Spirit of God within me.
Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?
I think most people are like Jonah. We would rather see God send down fire from heaven ... well righteous fire from heaven ... upon the wicked. The problem we have with "the wicked" is that we believe OTHERS are the wicked and that they have been wicked to us. So we deeply desire within our hearts for them to suffer.
But, before God all sins are the same. The truth is that all of us are "the wicked".
Likewise we must also understand that if anyone does not turn, then God will leave them to the consequences of their actions. God isn't one to give you a hug and say: "I love you man! It's OK that you live a wicked life."
No, there are consequence and there will be punishment. So don't lie to people in telling them that it is just fine to sin. It isn't.
Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations.
As our hearts turn more to God we start to see the evils we have done. Like the morning after a drunken binge, your actions from the night before come crashing down upon your head. Just don't let that cripple you from acting.
Emotions are a good thing. For example fear. Fear can lead you to make the right choices in life. Easy example: don't play with the lion. But, emotions are meant to be understood, controlled, and used. Fear that gets out of hand will cripple a person from doing the right thing at the right time. You must accept it and control it.
Loathing is another emotion. How can it be bad? If you begin to loath yourself it can lead to crippling inaction. Where you would rather hate yourself and hold back from others. Others that may need you to act NOW and to love them NOW. But, it can be good. Use that feeling to remind yourself on what not to do. Know and understand what actions lead to it and rather take a new path.
A child will keep their hand off a hot stove after being burned once. Do likewise.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Remember.
Your calender and day planner is not God's calender and day planner.
Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you. You have despised my holy things and profaned my Sabbaths.
Rather fitting description for what you watch on TV and experience in our culture. And if you fill your daily thoughts with that ... how sad the LORD must be trying to get through the mess of what is left of our minds. And if that is your actions ... be prepared for the smack down.
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.” So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded.
Many times the suffering of others has been to our grace. The powerful speaker at the front of the church is many times the person who has suffered greatly and came through the other side. And I can understand things without having to experience it by understanding those people that HAVE experienced it.
Yet, I can't imagine being told before hand that you are about to suffer as a lesson for others. It is one thing to be prepared that God may call you for that kind of suffering. But, to be told that you were going to lose what you love before it happens? That would be hard. Even Christ prayed that the cup would pass from him.
But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
Suffering is suffering. It isn't that you should actually rather feel joy. You are suffering! But, intellectually we can understand we are sharing the same pain, the same loss, the same sufferings as Christ. And in that we can rejoice.
There is nothing wrong with being sad and in pain. There is nothing wrong in trying to see the LORD's good in it. It is a hope that can get you through some of the darkest hours of your life.
And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.
O how I love the times that I truly spend with God. When I can hear His voice and feel His hand.
God gives us a new heart. One that is not stone and callused from the pain and hate of this life. But, one that is new and tender. One that cries with those in pain and reaches out to help. One that leaps for joy when salvation comes to those that hate us.
What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge’?
One thing I try to instil within my children is to accept consequences. When you do wrong you make it right and you take the punishment. You don't put it off and you don't pass on the blame.
Today we as a nation are doing a terrible evil.
We are passing on the consequences of our evil and selfish actions upon our children and our grandchildren. As fathers we must take the responsibility of what we have done wrong. It is better to financially suffer ourselves than to bail out our foolish actions of spending what we do not have and taking from those coming behind.
A nation that lives in debt is raping the future of its children.
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
I was thinking about this passage of James and the tie between faith and works ...
Our lives are like a great ocean. We sit upon it in our sail boats waiting to go somewhere. The sail that each of us has is our faith. The wind that drives our boat is the Grace of God. With no faith we keep our sails tied up and don't catch the wind of God's Grace. We may rock the boat a bit as we stomp around, but this is a sail boat not a row boat, so we go nowhere.
We can cry out to other people in their boats: "Look at my great sailing ship and how far I can go!" But, if your sails are still tied up you aren't going anywhere.
Untie your sail and watch the Grace of God fill it and suddenly you begin to move. Soon your little ship is making great waves that the dolphins jump and play in. And the wake behind you trails out forever; spreading and touching many other ships. Sometimes giving them a little push in the right direction. And sometimes rocking them and letting them know something is wrong with having tied up sails.
The wake of your boat is your actions for God.
If you are moving with God you must be creating a wake.
If you see no wake ... it is because your ship isn't moving.
So it is with faith. We are saved by the Grace of God and faith alone. But, your faith will make wakes as your move through life. Someone can profess the LORD. But if their ship is just rocking in place ... their sails are still tied up.
Speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear.
The Word of God is true and eternal. It doesn't favor anyone. Not and rich and not the poor. Not the people up high and not the people down at the bottom of life.
When we read it God is speaking to us. On how to live and on how we will be corrected if we continue on the wrong path.
We listen to it and we read it. And we know that whether we actually listen and burn it upon our minds and hearts ... or refuse the truth. It is still true.
Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations.
As a Christian what is the temple of the LORD? You are.
God points out to Ezekiel the abominations that were in the temple. Other gods. Idols. The worship of the sun. If God took you on a tour of your own soul what would you see? When you look in deep within yourself do you see other gods?
Our time is spent on us. So I suppose you would see a huge golden idol made to look like the ideal you. Sculpted muscles and a beautiful body.
Our time is spent chasing after money. So I suppose you would see carvings of the chase upon the walls. Wealthy men purchasing the best of everything. Wealthy women at leisure doing as they pleased.
And you would would be found bowing down under a bright spot light. The spot light of fame. Where others cheer you on and praise all the little things you do. No matter how stupid.
I know I need to clean the temple of the LORD. Do you?
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar.
"They will get what the deserve in the end." I've said that and have heard other Christians say that as well. If said in the context of this world and this life ... it isn't true. If said in the context of a saved Christian ... it definitely isn't true.
In this world good people pass on never getting a break or having peace in their lives. And evil people pass on never being punished for their sins.
And a saved Christian KNOWS that they will not get what they deserve in the end. Because they know what they deserve is eternal punishment. They are joyful that the Grace of God rather gives them what they do not deserve.
