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Your Daily Kick In The Pants (3)
Devotional for Friday, August 23, 2002 by Jim Messmer
Being sick at heart isn't always a bad thing, not when it is a righteous sickness, created by all the unrighteousness which bombards both man and God from day to day.Ezekiel 9:4-6 - And the Lord said to him, "Go through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it." And to the others he said in my hearing, "Pass through the city after him, and smite; your eye shall not spare, and you shall not show pity... but touch no one upon whom is the mark". (RSV)
The word of God doesn't mess around, does it? Whenever God has witnessed all the corruption He can endure, the consequences are bound to be awesome. But didn't God have a just measure for judging hearts, before this particular time of judgment, as foretold to His prophet Ezekiel? God's angel simply marked any who were sick at heart over the state of unrighteousness in God's holy city, thus sheltering them from the coming destruction.
Matthew 5:3-4,6 - Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (RSV)
To the child of God, all unrighteousness is a cause for sadness. It not only brings hardship and disappointment upon those who are the victims of the unrighteousness, but it brings reproach upon the sovereignty of God, and opposes His will to have all His human creation walking in the blessed joy of a godly life. If Jesus Christ cried tears over Jerusalem, should we be any less grieved over the world of unrighteousness awaiting destruction at the end of the age?
Prayer: May we cry along with You, Father, as You weep over your lost and rebellious children. May we speak boldly of Your love to any who might listen, a love which brings only joy to all who will accept it. Today is the day of salvation. Let us use today, first to weep, and then to act, that one more might be saved through the life-giving blood of Jesus Christ. How blessed we would be, if today we were to become a messenger of Your love. Amen.
Jim Messmer <jmessmer@insightbb.com>
Washington, Illinois, USA
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Today's Music:
Give Me That Old Time Religion.