Those That Bless (Part 2)

 

Good Sunday morning! Here is the final verse that I left you with yesterday.

Ezekiel 35:11

Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee.

In these strange times in which we live, we need to be careful about how we treat folk because we never know when the next person that we meet just might be our test case. I know; that is a sobering thought, isn't it? And it might cause you to wonder just what is to be done if you did commit a sin against an angel of GOD or against GOD's representative (your test case)?

Fix It

All in not lost; as long as you are breathing, you have the opportunity to fix it. This is the thing that the LORD GOD would rather that you do. How do I know? Read the verses cited below and you will see that HE stands ready to forgive; in fact, HE prefers that you repent of sin(s).

New American Standard Bible, Ezekiel 33

¹¹ Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord ^[e]God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’ ¹² And you, son of man, say to ^[f]your fellow citizens, ‘The righteousness of a righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble because of it in the day when he turns from his wickedness; whereas a righteous man will not be able to live ^[g]by his righteousness on the day when he commits sin.’ ¹³ When I say to the righteous he will surely live, and he so trusts in his righteousness that he commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but in that same iniquity of his which he has committed he will die. ¹⁴ But when I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and he turns from his sin and practices justice and righteousness, ¹⁵ if a wicked man restores a pledge, pays back what he has taken by robbery, walks by the statutes ^[h]which ensure life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die.¹⁶ None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has practiced justice and righteousness; he shall surely live.

Chapter 34

⁴ Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them.

Strange Times Indeed

If you are a Bible reader, then you will recall the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Before that destruction was begun, angels of GOD came down to see if the outcry against those cities was as great as was reported. They walked the earth and we know they talked to Lot. I said that to underscore my point:

• You do not know who you talk to on a daily basis or a not-so-daily basis. And because you don't, treat everyone with kindness.


• If the men who killed JESUS had known who HE was, I mean who HE really was, do you think they would have acted as crass as they did? I think not!

And when people mistreat me, slight me, cheat me, lie on me, steal from me, hate me for no cause other than my zealous work for the LORD, I don't give in to the desire to retaliate, instead I think about the law of reaping what you sow... 

And from now on, since I know that I am a part of spiritual Israel, I will remember the verses quoted above, and I will rest a bit easier within myself, even in spite of myself. (Tomorrow {Monday} we will finish this topic under the subject of Blessed for HIS Name's Sake, Even I.)

Be safe.

 

Walking by faith,

Alma L. Stepping On Carr-Jones