Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? Ezekiel 18:31
People go down a path that they know and recognize. Very seldom will people change paths to take an unknown or different type of path. It often appears to be dangerous or foolish. Fear of change or the unknown causes people to stay on the path that they are on, even if it is leading to death.
Ezekiel records God pleading with the people to cast away all their sins and to get a new heart and spirit. He asks them why they should die.
Living in the moment will always provide immediate pleasure and satisfaction. Everything appears to be good and well at the moment, with no regard for what may come in the future. People will get drunk on alcohol, not thinking about how they might say or do something that they will regret under the influence, or they will forget the hangover they will have the next day.
In the same way, people live in sin, including many inside the church, refusing to change. Living this way is on a path towards death.
To change that path, one must be willing to repent of those sins and allow Jesus to cast them out. Then they must allow God to give them a new heart and a new spirit.
The new heart will cause them to love the things God loves and hate the things God hates. The new spirit will give them strength to overcome sin and flee all temptation, and then give them the strength and wisdom to do what God calls them to do. Living in this way will bring them life, not death.
You most likely do not want to die. You want to enjoy life as long as you can. God does not want you to die either. Living as the world lives, to please self in the moment, will only bring about death in the end. Choose to live to please God by casting out all sinful ways in your life. Allow God to give you a new heart to love His ways and commands. Allow God to give you a new spirit to change your desires to match His.
Why should you die?
Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will repent of all sins before God; that you will get a new heart from God; that you will get a new spirit from God; and that you will live for God and not for yourself.
Photo by Jim Wilson on Unsplash
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