Don't Dilute Your Faith

Ezra 9:1-2 -  After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, "The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites.  They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness."

 

Ezra returned to Jerusalem to find the people …and even the leaders…and Levites that God had appointed to oversee his work in the Temple …intermarrying with the pagan nations.  The influence of the wives they married diluted the faith that they had been raised with.  The women they married convinced them that they should join them in worshiping the many heathen gods they thought held the answers of life.

 

Ezra immediately tore his clothes in an act of repentance before the Lord. He even tore out some of the hair of his beard to show the people around him how serious he was in his concern. Many people gathered with him and sat with him until evening…when it was time to offer the evening sacrifices.  Then he rose and offered a humble prayer to God…crying out to him with the fear in his heart…that the recent blessings of freedom might be revoked for this sin.

 

Ezra was only upset about the consequences of intermarrying the heathen women around Jerusalem ….but his concern is a reminder to me to guard the purity of my faith in all aspects of life. 1 Corinthians 10:12 says… “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”  And 2 Peter 3:17 says… “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.” And don’t leave out the warning we hear in Galatians 6:1… “And let each of you keep watch over himself, lest he also fall into temptation.”

 

Father…help me to guard the love that you have placed in my heart. Help me find ways to stay strong…and be more cautious than I am permissive when I am exposed to things that would cause me to fall.  Show me how to keep watch…and allow your still small voice to remain ever in my heart…to help me make the right choice when I am tempted. Walk with me today…an show me how to walk like Jesus did….to be in this world and model your love…but not of this world and its diluted…justified ways. Amen.