NO RESPECTOR OF PERSONS
As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob everyone who awakes and answers. Malachi 2:12
God is never so impressed with someone’s stature in life that He is willing to remove the laws of sowing and reaping. The reference to ‘everyone who awakes and answers’ is speaking to the teacher and the student, the preacher and the parishioner, the priest and the common man. The message is clear ~ whoever sins against God, regardless of their position, will bear the pain of broken fellowship and painful consequences until there is repentance.
This is good news and bad news.
It is bad news for he who has achieved notoriety. Anyone who has felt the applause of men and lived for a time in the spotlight will tell you that great favor can be an opiate. It distorts reality. It deceives a man into believing that he is different from everyone else. He assumes that he is set apart for greatness and exempt from the rules of everyone else. The man will begin to get careless. His morality will slip. His sterling character qualities will tarnish. His house will erode and what once looked pristine will bear signs of peeling paint and miserable faces.
It is good news for any who believe the truth that God is just. He rewards the man or woman in obscurity that chooses to do the righteous thing without achieving the recognition of anyone. That person can also know firsthand the pleasure of feeling one’s favor on his back; the warmth of Abba’s smile. While he may have to live in this world for a time and deal with the inequities of the class distinction, he is also invited to live within the reality of God’s kingdom where the foot of the cross is on level ground.
If I am God’s child, regardless of who I am here, I will respond to God’s chastening and make my way home. J. Vernon McGee says it well, “A true child of God will not continue to live in sin. That is the reason the prodigal son down there in the pigpen finally came to himself and said, “I will arise and go to my father…” (Luke 15:18). He was a son and not a pig. He had the nature of his father. Only pigs love the pigpen. A son will wake up and get out of there.”
I stand before You as a solitary woman. You do not know me as anyone’s wife, mother, friend, or daughter. I am simply a woman that You love. I take responsibility for my actions and the contents of my heart. Amen
Copyright Christine Inc.
Find more info at: www.daughtersofpromise.org
Originally published Thursday, 08 August 2019.
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