“When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 9 But if you do warn the wicked person to turn from their ways and they do not do so, they will die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved.”
Please know that God takes no joy is having to discipline his people. But God is about doing whatever it takes to make us His followers. He even sent His Son to the cross to die for our sins. God loves you, He loves me and He wants to spend eternity with us.
I don’t know about you, but passages of scripture like this makes me take note of the responsibilities we have for each other and that all that we do should help point others to Him.
Chapter 34 has much of the same language that we hear Jesus using. When He looked at the crowds He saw “sheep without a shepherd, and had compassion on them.” (Matthew 9:36) Do we have the same compassion for those around us. Do we “only take care of ourselves” (34:2)? Do we “strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured” (34:4)? Have we “brought back the strays or searched for the lost” (34:5)? This is the message that Jesus preached over and over again. It is the message that we need to not only proclaim to the world but to be active in the world.
Sharing God’s message
Pastor Kathy