Today's Reading:
Ezekiel 23:1-49
Matthew 13:47-14:12
Proverbs 14:25-35
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Focus Verses: Ezekiel 23:35-39
35 "Therefore
this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Since you have forgotten me and
thrust me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your
lewdness and prostitution." 36 The LORD said to me: "Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then confront them with their detestable practices 37 for
they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They
committed adultery with their idols; they even sacrificed their
children, whom they bore to me, as food for them. 38 They have also done this to me: At that same time they defiled my sanctuary and desecrated my Sabbaths. 39 On
the very day they sacrificed their children to their idols, they
entered my sanctuary and desecrated it. That is what they did in my
house.
Insight:
Ezekiel
uses the shocking and graphic metaphors of adultery and prostitution to
describe the behavior of Samaria (the northern tribes of Israel) and
Judah (the southern tribes). Even when they entered the Temple to
"worship" God, they were perverting it through syncretism and the full
embrace of pagan worship, child sacrifice, sexual ritual, and idolatry.
They acted as though God was just one of many gods and that the holy
temple was just one of many religious sites.
Response and Action:
God
calls his people to be faithful to him. No amount of going to church,
saying religious words, singing worship songs, or making claims of
belief can make up for unfaithfulness. I need to be faithful to God and
be on guard against duplicity. I must guard against confusing the
worship of God with self-centered and self-serving forms of religiosity.
I must not allow myself to be comfortable with disconnects between my
behavior and my belief—saying one thing but doing another. I cannot
claim to follow God while going my own way and chasing after other
things. God will not settle for being part of my life, he demands all of
me.
O
God, help me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Help me to honor you and to allow nothing else to rival my reverence and
faithfulness to you. Save me from hypocrisy and duplicity. Give me a
single-minded allegiance to you. Forgive me for my sins and failures,
and save me by your grace. Lift me up, show me your ways, and give me
the wisdom and the will to walk in them. Give me a mind that is quick to
obey and a heart that delights in you. Through Christ, I pray. Amen.
Spiritual Formation Verses: 2 Corinthians 6:15-17
15
What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer
have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between
the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As
God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be
their God, and they will be my people." 17 "Therefore come out from
them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will
receive you."
Resources:
Pagan Christianity
by Frank Viola and George Barna
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