Sunday Withdrawals…

I miss church!!  I’ve missed the past FOUR Sundays at church.  I definitely spent some time with the Lord this morning, but it’s just not the same as worshipping and praying as a corporate body, hearing a sermon, teaching my girls, and having fellowship.  I definitely am looking forward to getting back!

One of the passages I read this morning was in Ezekiel 33 which the beginning talked about the responsibility of the “watchman” (Ezekiel) to deliver the messages to the people God has given to them.  It made me think specifically of our pastors and the burden they are under to deliver the words God lays upon their heart.  In that passage God tells Ezekiel if someone dies because he doesn’t give them the message he is called to that the “watchman will be held accountable for his blood”.  What a heavy burden!

At the end of the passage (after God has made clear the burden Ezekiel is under to preach his word), God tells Ezekiel that his congregation is not the most attentive.  Check out v. 31 and 32, “My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain.  Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.”  Ezekiel’s congregation was coming to listen to his sermons for entertainment’s sake (listening to speeches was a popular way to pass a lazy afternoon in biblical days instead of our present day TV or radio…).  They would profess devotion with their mouth, but it did not match up with their hearts and they did not put what they heard and learned into practice.

That hit hard.  How many times do I hear a sermon, know I need to obey or follow through with something and just don’t?  How many times do I sing the words of a praise song that don’t match up with my heart?  Oh Lord, let me not profess anything with my mouth that I will not work to follow through with.  It will probably not be an instantaneous result, but may I work toward those things you convict me of.