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Hard repentace


Ezekiel 14:6
 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Repent, turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations. 

Thought for the day – Repent
In our last episode we looked at the weak walls that we build as a façade to protect ourselves, and how God ha promised to tear them down. Our verse today places our motivations and our sacred cows firmly in the firing line.

Our chapter today is God calling the people of Israel away from idolatry. We’ve talked about idolatry before on the WTW and I’ve always defines idolatry as the things we choose before God. The things that that stop us from worshipping and serving God to the full because they are more important than God. And this speaks to our motivations, our desires and our fears.

In our verse today, we are called to repent, turn away from our idols, and turn our faces away from all our abominations. Strong words, but they are an indication of God’s feeling towards our sacred cows. And challenging our motivations, our desires and fears, require us to name those things. And that takes courage. It means admitting that we have placed those things before God and asking God to forgive us.

God will of course. He is love and grace. And his desire is that none would perish, which was why he sent Jesus. We crucify the things that hold us in bondage on the cross with Christ. It is through Jesus’ sacrifice and victory that we can lay down the things that stop us from worshipping God before the cross. It’s still hard. But then so is living a life based on idolatry and lies.


 

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