March 31- Ezra 9:6

THE VERSE

"O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens."
~Ezra 9:6

THE THOUGHT

How are we as Christians to respond to the rampant wickedness that is celebrated in our society? Do we make morality relative and not concern ourselves with what direction our culture takes? Do we shrug our shoulders and go along with them? Do we take a stand and continually denounce all who practice such things?

These are hard questions that are above the scope of this daily devotional, and which should be sought out diligently in the Word. But a much-needed reminder comes to us today in the form of Ezra's prayer of repentance. His response to the evils of his people- how they intermarried with the pagans and were being led astray into idolatry- did not cause him to shrug his shoulders or stand up to denounce sinners. His response was that of repentance. He saw himself as part of this wayward community, and he wept bitterly and pleaded with God for mercy, both for his sins and for the sins of his people.

There is a familiar cliché that describes how we often deal with sin: "Hate the sin and love the sinner." But if we are to have any hope of providing a consistent gospel witness to our culture, it has to start with this: "Hate MY sin, and love the sinner." If people would see the fruit of repentance in our own lives and the change that Jesus Christ brings in our own lives, then perhaps their reaction would be the same as the people in Ezra's day: "While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly." May that same scene come to pass in our day.

THE PRAYER

Holy God, Grant Your church tears of repentance for our own crimes against You. Give me a holy sorrow for my iniquity, and by the convicting power of Your Holy Spirit help me to hate my own sin more than I hate the sins of others. And Lord, I plead for mercy for my nation; we have turned our backs on you, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. Please do not turn Your back on us, but send Your gospel anew in power to renew Your church and change this nation.

EXTENDED READING

2 Chronicles 7:14-15
Ezra 9:1-10:2
1 Corinthians 5:1-2

THE QUOTE

"Christianity is a religion you could never have guessed. If it offered us just the kind of universe we'd always expected, I'd feel we were just making it up. But, in fact, it's not the sort of thing anyone would have made up. It has just that queer twist about it that real things have." ~C.S. Lewis