Ezekiel 3:18-21, 27 – “When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself. Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself … “But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ Whoever will listen let them listen, and whoever will refuse let them refuse; for they are a rebellious people.”
Ezekiel had a most difficult task laid before him by God himself, who spelled out in great detail beforehand the kind of reactions the people would have. The prophet was assured, however, that he would never face them alone. The Lord still calls. Do we hear and obey, or do we pull off a Jonah and try to run and hide? It is on the believers to show the world the path to eternal life. We do it whether it is accepted or not. And notice also that our audience aren’t always the ones not attending church. Some regularly in the pews seem to develop an attitude that trends away from righteousness, despite their former behaviors of love and sacrifice. We are also bound to give them warning as well; whether it is heeded lies on them. In short, our lives as God’s children are meant to be one of service to the Lord. That service takes many forms, but they all have one thing in common: humility. Preaching, teaching, healing, feeding, clothing, housing, praying – these are all necessary but need to be borne by a committed and cooperative body of believers, so as not to wear out just a few. When we commit to doing our part, especially when we feel a tug on the spirit in that direction, we must never let any negativity thrown our direction dissuade us from what we feel is our appointed task. There will always be some who speak against us, but remember Satan can take any form he likes and can even use scripture to try proving his point. Just go where the spirit leads and God will always be there. He promised Ezekiel and He offers us that same promise. God calls us. We can answer and be fortified with the Lord’s strength, or we can just ignore it and keep on steppin’. Only one choice leads to life.
