“Therefore, as I live,” says the Lord God, “surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you;” Ezekiel 5:11
Allowing things to be trashed often appears as something acceptable to many people. People will drop trash in stores, restaurants, and all over outside with no thought as to what they are doing. They often forget that others have to clean up the filth they left behind. Yet, many of those same people would not want their own homes trashed by anyone else.
Ezekiel records God saying that He is promising that He will diminish the people of Israel because they defiled His sanctuary with horrible things and sinful acts.
The world does not know Jesus and thus lives in sin. They do not know how to live a righteous and holy life in any way. This is something that is to be expected. It is a different thing for those who consider themselves to be believers and followers of Jesus.
Believers are to be set apart from the world and changed, new creations in Christ Jesus, the temple of God. They are to repent and leave their lives of sin. However, looking at many churches and people who consider themselves believers, this is often not the case.
Many churches and believers are purposefully living in sin and refusing to reject sin. They claim God accepts sinful practices because He loves them. The believer is the temple of God, yet many defile that temple with sin on purpose. As a result, God will reject them and diminish them as He did with Israel.
Although a believer will never be perfect this side of heaven, one must always strive to be holy. When sin is revealed, one must repent and seek God’s strength to change, not reject repentance and keep on sinning.
At the moment you chose to believe in Jesus and repent of your sins, you became the temple of God. He had removed your sins and made you clean and holy, then filled you with His Holy Spirit to lead and guide you in living the holy life He has called you to live.
Do not allow yourself to be deceived by the world and go back into sinful ways of living. Do not defile the temple of God, otherwise He will be against you and diminish you.
Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will be the holy temple of God as He has created you to be; that you will repent of all sins before God; that God will give you strength to flee all sin; and that God will not have to diminish you for sin.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Insights from Tom
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