July 8

Day 116: What Have I Been Forgiven Of?

Ezekiel was a good Jewish guy, a priest who ended up spending most of his adult life in Babylonian exile. Maybe he knew Jeremiah. Maybe Daniel was a neighbor.

God spoke through Ezekiel during a twenty year period (ages 20 through 40, which matched exactly what would have been his career tenure serving in the temple, were he in Jerusalem.)

Ezekiel's non-temple job during those twenty years? To speak what God told him to speak, starting always with

Thus says the Lord..." In fact, there was a time when Ezekiel couldn't even talk...unless God put His words in Ezekiel's mouth. (Unlike us, at least he didn't say dumb stuff.)

In Ezekiel 36:22, God says, "Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came."

God says, I will vindicate my Name. You people (now exiles) have profaned my name.

It continues. "And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes."

Hearing that, you'd think the people would shudder; that great fear would be their only plausible response; that what follows would be nothing but bad. But what follows speaks to God, not to the people's response.

"I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."

In other words: God would forgive, and God would restore.

And more importantly, God promised to give them new, worshipful, obedient hearts. God would vindicate His own Name, in the eyes of the nations, by His grace. And His grace would be seen in the transformed lives of His own people.

Instead of being a bad example, they would learn to be a good example.

Romans 4:8 has Paul quoting King David in saying, "Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin."

Paul knew, experientially, what it was to be forgiven much. David knew, experientially, what it was to be forgiven much. He responded with even greater love for his Lord.

The people in Ezekiel's time perhaps knew this about David, but not necessarily about themselves.

Luke 7:47 takes this idea of forgiveness leading to love by (Jesus) saying, "But he who is forgiven little, loves little."

"Forgiven little," meaning, the ones who don't think their sin was/is all that bad. Conversely, the one who has been forgiven much, loves much."

Our love for Jesus today is directly proportional to the extent we think we have been and need God's forgiveness. If we don't think we really need the gift, we're not as appreciative for the gift. Depth of gratitude and the resultant depth of love are inseparable, it seems.

If wondering if or how much you love Jesus, it may be helpful to consider what you have been forgiven of, and what it took for that forgiveness to happen.

-Mike Rydman, Lead Pastor, Radiant Church | Juneau