Good morning!
Text: Ezra 8-10; Psalm 118:1-14.
Ezra comes to a challenging ending, as Ezra confronts the people for having broken God’s Law by intermarrying with women of “the peoples of the lands with their abominations.” (Ezra 9-10). That the nation’s purity might be restored, there is a call for not only confession and repentance, but to act:
Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the Law. (Ezra 10:3)
That’s pretty heavy lifting. They are married, they are family, they have children, and they actually choose to send their wives and kids away. What a painful thing, but it is a reflection of just how serious God’s call to His people for holiness actually is. I am not so sure how I would do with a situation like Ezra’s.
Do we take holiness this seriously? …to the point of painful sacrifice to make something right before the Lord? It is true that we live under grace, but we have the same high calling. 1 Peter 1:5 says, for example, “…as he who called you is holy, you also be holy… since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’.” So, the question stands; is there something unholy in my life which I must remove? Even if it means great pain?
in Him, Mike