Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Day 105 Wise friendships & taking sin seriously

Wise friendships & taking sin seriously
How do we assess the evil we encounter on a daily basis? We get a glimpse of how YHWH views such simple things as hospitality and the more complex issue of the power of influence in our reading today in Deut.
Deut 23:3-6 "No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, not even in the tenth generation".
Passive neglect, of basic hospitality refused.

For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt,
Active active harm - employ/influence others to work against you
and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim to pronounce a curse on you.
God's response on our behalf and His expectation of our behavior.
However, the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you. Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them as long as you live.

When God works on our behalf to thwart the evil that was set against us, we would be wise not to draw the same evil close to us again.

When people turn their back on their evil nation as in the case of Ruth the Moabitess then they will be welcomed. See Ruth & 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness".

As we live in an age that promotes the continuation of evil by our "live and let live" and "forgive and forget" attitudes it's easy to minimize the sin that we commit and the sin we receive on an ongoing daily basis.

Luke 6:42 How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

So for me today, I would do well to be aware of the "log" in my eye, and not minimize the "speck" in my brother's eye.
Siobhan

1 comment:

  1. Though I believe God is involved in my life, I find I tend to be cauteous in my understanding. I am slowly beginning to recognize the debth of what it means when scripture tells us he is intimately involved in what happens to us.

    It alternately brings me peace and great fear. I believe God wants to dispose of the fear. The more I understand of God the more I am set free from the fear.

    Shirley Fay

    Shirley

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