God Is An Equal Opportunity Provider
Tuesday's Devotion (4-24-07)
"But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die." Ezekiel 18:24 (KJV)
I would like for you all to read Ezekiel chapter 18 entirely, just so you can understand it in it's complete context. This verse and those surrounding it, basically say that if you are righteous and you change into a sinful person then all your righteousness that was done in the past means nothing. Likewise if a wicked man turns righteous all the wicked that he did in the past means nothing. Well, I really shouldn't say it means nothing, but it simply won't be remembered. The person you were in the past doesn't decide whether or not you make it into God's Kingdom... What matters is who you are now or who you will be when the time comes for the Lord to judge you. If you brought 20 million people to the Lord last year, that isn't going to help you if you've gone away from the Lord this year! Likewise if you killed 20 million people last year, if you came to Jesus this year then your sins from last year are forgiven.
Our God is an equal opportunity giver. He gives us so many chances to make things right with Him. He doesn't want to see us fall, He doesn't want any of us to go to Hell. You might hear that phrase being used by those around you, but you will never hear God tell you to go to Hell... Because God wants you to be with Him! He will however tell you, "Come to me." The Lord does not take pleasure in sending people to Hell, like some would think. It saddens Him to send someone to the pits of Hell, but really He has no choice. He has a set of rules and if He were to make exceptions, then He would no longer be perfect Himself and He can't sin! It's not in Him to sin! You have to really understand this simple fact: God is perfect and always will be! That is why He simply can't let everyone into His Kingdom.
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this message and for all things. Please forgive us of all our sins as we forgive all those who've sinned against us. Help us to follow you all of our days, don't let us become as those who go down into the pits. Also help us to bring many more to you. In Jesus name. A-men!
God bless