The Consequences of Changing Behaviors

God' Prophets Demand Justice

Advocates of Justice for All


A Call for Repentance

Ezekiel 18:21-28  The Message

^21-23 “But a wicked person who turns his back on that life of sin and keeps all my statutes, living a just and righteous life, he’ll live, really live. He won’t die. I won’t keep a list of all the things he did wrong. He will live. Do you think I take any pleasure in the death of wicked men and women? Isn’t it my pleasure that they turn around, no longer living wrong but living right—really living?
²⁴ “The same thing goes for a good person who turns his back on an upright life and starts sinning, plunging into the same vile obscenities that the wicked person practices. Will this person live? I don’t keep a list of all the things this person did right, like money in the bank he can draw on. Because of his defection, because he accumulates sin, he’ll die.
^25-28 “Do I hear you saying, ‘That’s not fair! God’s not fair!’?
“Listen, Israel. I’m not fair? You’re the ones who aren’t fair! If a good person turns away from his good life and takes up sinning, he’ll die for it. He’ll die for his own sin. Likewise, if a bad person turns away from his bad life and starts living a good life, a fair life, he will save his life. Because he faces up to all the wrongs he’s committed and puts them behind him, he will live, really live. He won’t die.

For Reflection 

We die drowning in our own choice to sin.  We live in the hollow of God's hand and because of that choice we thrive.  God does not will us ill.  God gives us the opportunity to to live a just and righteous life. 

Pray

for those whose choices mire them in the muck of their lives.  Pray for those who believe their sin is inescapable.  Pray for those who are working their way out of sin and into righteous life.  Pray for courage to live righteous lives in the face of the seductive common place.