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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“You sacrifice your children in the
ravines and under the overhanging crags.”
Isaiah 57:5b
This ends this
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Lacking God’s vision, knowledge,
and understanding. Complacency, lethargy, and laziness. Never being satisfied
with what God has provided. Seeking to go one’s own way separate from the Lord.
Never being satisfied with what God has provided. Choosing to abuse substances.
Looking to the world to try and make life better. Making a mockery out of the Lord.
Rebelling against God and His ways. Giving into lustful desires for things of
the world.
These are ten indicators of wicked
living that have been revealed to us by God’s word through our study of the
final verses of Isaiah. Chapter 56, and the opening verses of Isaiah 57. And
although any of these lifestyle choices is displeasing to God, perhaps the one
we will see today is more heinous and horrific than them all. Look at today’s
verse:
“You sacrifice your children in the ravines and under the overhanging
crags.” Isaiah 57:5b
We know that the people of Israel
had allowed pagan worship practices to infiltrate their culture, so much so
that in the years before being taken into exile by the Babylonians, the practice
of sacrificing one’s child to the false god Molech was widely taking place. The
prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel joined Isaiah in speaking out against the sinful
acts which were not simply confined to the everyday people. Scripture details
how two kings, Ahaz and Manasseh, sacrificed their children in what God’s word
labels as detestable practices (2 Chronicles 28, 2 Kings 21). And these were Jewish
people who supposedly followed God.
Today, we don’t hear of people
sacrificing their children but we do hear about children being abused by the
very parents that God entrusted their care to. That abuse might be verbal or physical
or both. It might even be neglect where the needs of a child are not being met.
Either way, a child of God is not cared for by their providers and know this,
God will not stand for it. He will not tolerate His children being mistreated.
You see, all children belong to God
when it comes right down to it. He ordains a child to be conceived from the
very start and sees that child through its time in the womb until it emerges
into His creation. From that point on, the child is placed in the hands of
people to care for His child. They are the child’s parents but that child is
not truly theirs but God’s. They will raise that child up until he or she
becomes an adult and is able to serve God on their own. And possibly, that
adult will get to be a parent themselves as God provides one of His children
for them to care for.
This truth is critical for us as we
get the privilege to have God’s children in our care. For if we truly see that
child as being God’s, then we would see the great obligation we have to give
that child our best for he or she is one of the greatest gifts God could have
ever given us. And when we raise them up with that view, then guess what? We
will raise up an adult who will see their children the same way when they get
the opportunity to have them. Seeing children as a rich blessing from God
perpetuates across the generations.
Friends, the scriptures are
speaking loudly today, especially to parents, and the message from God is clear:
“Do not abuse or mistreat My
children.”
Instead, treat them as they truly
are: the richest gifts possible from a gracious God who is the Father of all.
Amen.
In
Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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