Saturday, November 8, 2008

Regardless

"And thou shalt say to them, 'Thus saith the Lord God'... and thou shalt speaks my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious" (Ezekiel 2:4b, 7).
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In this passage, Ezekiel is given a command, and no condition. "Whether they will hear, or refuse to hear...." he was still to speak the message. Our concern should not be other people's response, though we must declare the truth and leave them to make their choice. We cannot say, "Well, it won't do any good, so why try?" God says "speak" and we must speak. He says "submit" and we must submit. He says "honor" and we must honor. Regardless of whether the other party ever changes or not, it is our responsibility, as servants of Christ, to obey and leave the results to God. He does not bless us according to how well people responded to our message, how many people we "got saved", or even how much earthly difference we made. He blesses us for our obedience, our own response to His call, and the spiritual fruit produced in our lives by the Holy Spirit working in us. He blesses us for boldness in declaring His Word in the first place, for without preaching there is no hearing, and without hearing, there is no salvation (Romans 10:14). We must present the truth to others, and let God work in their lives, while continuing to do His will in our own hearts as well. We must keeping obeying God and being a testimony of His grace in our lives, no matter how others respond or if they even respond at all.
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"But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee" (Ezekiel 2:8).

1 comment:

Amanda said...

Exact same thing as I thought this morning--you took the words right out of my mouth. ;-)