This month has flown by. I feel like I blink and a month is gone. Is this what it's like to grow up?
Earlier on Facebook, a Facebook friend had commented on a picture. Therefore, since Facebook likes to let you know EVERYTHING someone does it showed the picture on my news feed (some of you might have seen this same picture). The picture was of Jesus holding his middle finger in the air and it had two captions to it. 1st caption: "HE IS COMING And if he's doing this we're in trouble" Then the second caption read "LET HIM COME, we'll just kill him again." Yeah, my eyes about popped out of my head when I read this too. So me being me, I clicked on the the picture to read the comments below (at the time it had about 600 comments, but that number is growing as I type). The person who posted the picture made a comment below that says, "This photo was posted yesterday and due to the fact that im getting christians telling me to kill myself , this proves that it deserves to be posted again ." This comment made me more sad than the picture itself.
As I was reading my bible before bed, I know it was not an accident that I read Ezekiel 36:16-24. My Bible has little side captions to go with some verses and there was one for this one that read " Why did God want to protect his holy name- his reputation? To allow his people to be destroyed by their enemies would lead other nations to believe their nonexistent gods were victorious (Isaiah 48:11). Yet the people of Israel had the responsibility to represent God properly to the rest of the world. Believers today have that same responsibility. What would people learn about God by watching you?"
People are going to slander christianity, it's been predicted (John 16:33, 1 Peter 4:12-19). The real trial is how we handle it. When you decided to carry the name of Jesus, you're representing Christ. How you behave and what you do in troubling situations such as this is so important. It breaks my heart that this person, whoever they may be was told to go kill himself for posting that picture. If God wanted him dead for that, well I'm pretty sure he would have taken care of that for him. But that's not who God is. He is a merciful God, he, "isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent." (2 Peter 3:9) And as christians (including myself) we must not forget what God says about us! In Ezekiel he promises to “...sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations."(36:25-27) but he also says, "But remember, says the Sovereign Lord, I am not doing this because you deserve it. O my people of Israel, you should be utterly ashamed of all you have done!" (36:32). We are no better than the person who posted or created that picture, the only difference is that God has cleaned us and that cleansing was done through mercy not because we did anything to deserve it.
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