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40 DAYS OF LENT: DAY #21
WORD OF TODAY: Ezekiel 18:30-32 (ESV)
30 “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.”
THOUGHTS ON THE WORD:
There is but one Judge, and there is but one Truth. Our transgressions are many, and they are the product of our wanting to administer truth instead of living under God’s Truth. As we begin the second half of these 40 days, we can begin to reflect upon the Scripture we have so far encountered. For today, recall how we are to write the commandments of God on our hearts, loving God with all that we have and all that we are. Consider the commandments of God as bound upon our fingers, as frontlets before our eyes, as proclaimed from the prophets, as witnessed by the disciples.
Yesterday we read how Jesus satisfied the debt of the trespass, nailing it to the cross. In Him we are able to do what the house of Israel was not able to do, and that is truly casting our transgressions away. In Christ Jesus we are made new by Him, given a new heart and a new spirit, for the Spirit of God now dwells within us! That is, of course, if we accept this gift of renewal through confession, repentance, and amendment of life. There is but one Judge, and that judge is Christ Jesus. As we confess in the Creeds, Jesus will come to judge all when He returns. And the Lord takes no pleasure in the loss of a soul, and here we hear God’s call to turn, and live. Consider-how have you turned to the Lord God? How will you witness today to someone that you encounter this plea of God’s love for His creation?