Scribe's Landing . . . Writing To Encourage

"As for me and my house, We will Serve the Lord"

"Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them." ~Ezekiel 22:29

My dear friends, I am so encouraged today, despite all that is swimming around in my head - encouraged because I have been deeply challenged by God's word, by His people, by His presence in my life that will not relent from seeing me refined and changed more into His image. Do I, Kristy, really, truly serve the Lord? Even more, what is service to God to look like in day to day living? Can I truly say that as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord? Today I finished a 6-week precept study on Ezekiel, specifically God's call and challenge to Ezekiel to judge his bloody nation, the house of Israel. Israel at this time had grown corrupt and perverse - knee deep in all sorts of sins that are not uncommon to us, to our nation, or to our own lives, today. Among the many sins, there was a lack of respect for father and mother, oppression, idol worship, adultery, murder, slander, bribes, acts of lewdness, incest, dishonest gains, and the list goes on and on. In comparison, the book of Ezekiel could have been talking about America today, although it was aimed specifically at the Nation of Israel. The book of Ezekiel is an uncomfortable book for most to look at and equate not only to our nation, but to our individual lives and churches today. It is a book that calls us to examine all that is sin against God, to repent of it and turn to God, to hate the things God hates, and in a greater sense, to see God not just as a God of love and mercy, which He is, but also as a God of wrath, which He also must be. Through this six-week study I became keenly aware of our need to see God in the totality of His being, in His sovereignty, and to stop boxing Him in a package that we find more to our personal likings or in a way that seeks to justify our actions. Do I take God at His word - not just parts of it, but all of it? Does God really have standards that are black and white and not open for discussion? What once was wrong and unacceptable to one society is it right in our society today? We know God doesn't change, but does our culture change how we should view certain standards for living? God's word beautifully answers all of this better than I ever could; "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." ~ Isaiah 5:5.
According to God's standards, to His word, evil and good does not change. Sin will always still be sin, even if we choose to disassociate ourselves from it by calling it something less harsh, something that sounds altogether different, like calling a lie (which Satan is the father of) a mere stretching of the truth. Or, as Elizabeth Elliot states; "sin seems to mean little more than a personal problem of adjustment. This makes it almost impossible for people even to hear what God says."
God seeks an undivided heart, a heart that is sold-out to Him, a heart that fully believes Him, a heart committed to doing His will, even if it's hard, unpopular, or requires tremendous sacrifice. After all, He paid the ultimate penalty - all He requires of us is our belief in Him and our obedience. Yet we doubt as individuals, we doubt as a church, we doubt as a nation, and we rationalize ourselves away from real truth that is set before us in His precepts by our own clouded thinking and judgements. We simply disregard who He says He is, what He says He will do, what He says He hates. God loves the sinner, but He hates the sin. Divorce, adultery, pornography, lies, murder, hate, gossip, false prophesy, abortion, dishonest gain, gluttony, it's all the same to Him. God doesn't rate our sin on a scale of 1-10, with ten being worse than one, sin is simply that - sin. My sin as a liar ranks right up there with the man who killed ten people in cold blood - or, if I have lust in my heart for another other than my husband, it's as if I committed adultery in my heart against Him. Sin, according to Ezekiel, pollutes the land. Sin hurts people, but more, it pains the heart of God. Let it not be said of us that God could not find in us a person who would stand up for his principles and fill the gap - to be ones that are willing to say the hard things and to pray and intercede so that we would repent, and we would turn to God. Not a half-turn, but a full 360 degrees in the direction of the Lord. I also pray for a renewed love and passion for God's word. How can we possibly know what sin, according to God is, unless we are in His word for ourselves. A growing number of believers only know God by word of mouth - from regurgitated lessons and studies, than what they have experienced of Him for themselves through actual personal study of God's word. I know, because I've been there. Pray with me that we would be ones who can truly say, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Let us be ones that choose to be salt and light in a society that has become increasingly more full of the black and greys.