Holy to the Lord

"The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices… (Ezra 9:1). "Moderation in all things". This popular bit of folk wisdom is helpful but not always. Hating sin, for example, needs no moderation. We are to hate it and flee from it with enthusiasm and passion. When writing to Timothy about certain temptations, Paul writes, "But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness" (1 Timothy 6:11). To the church he writes, "reject every kind of evil" (1 Thess. 5:22). Many of us want the freedom to dabble a little bit with sin. We wonder how close we can get to the line without crossing. This attitude is a long way from 'reject every kind of evil'. To reject evil, we need to give up things. For example, negative attitudes that towards other people; stereotyping. The Bible's persistent call to love our neighbours means we cannot look down on people of another race or socio-economic status. We will need to critically question our political leanings to determine if they truly line up with the gospel. It's really a question about worship: who or what we worship. That's where the book of Ezra finishes. The Israelites have married folks from other nations. But that is just the presenting issue. What lies behind this is Israel's lackluster attitude towards God and worshipping him alone. Their intermarrying quickly progresses to joining their foreign spouses in worshipping other gods. Israel was to be holy to the Lord among the nations: geographically, culturally, ethnically and religiously. The church is not longer a separate nation. So how are we holy? This is a question each generation of Christians needs to ask and wrestle with. This is no easy task. To help this discernment, we do well to focus on the positive aspects of the Christian life. Paul wrote, "flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness." If we spend more time on the pursuit side of the equation, the fleeing will be more obvious. We should also follow Ezra's example. When we become aware of sin, our first response ought to be confession. Ezra's awareness of the sin in the community leads him to confess it before God. He is acutely aware that they cannot presume upon God's mercy. Neither can we. Our current Christian culture tends toward an approach to repentance that advocates "saying sorry" to God and trying (at least for a while) not to be a repeat offender. We need to recover an understanding of the seriousness of sin and how it affects us. Experiencing the seriousness of sin in our heart (our guts) makes us more aware of God's grace, and thankful for it. This will help us to pursue a life of worshipping God alone. As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May your day end with rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you. May you rest in his provision as he brings night, and then new dawn.