“Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come into His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom you desire. Behold, He is coming,” says the Lord Almighty. “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can withstand His appearance? For He enters like a refiner’s fire and as soap in one’s wash.
Daily we weary the Lord…
Can you admit that?
We weary the Lord with our words, yet we say, “In what way have we wearied Him?” We weary Him by saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delights in them,” or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”
I know: none of us really say that those who “do evil” are good in God’s eyes. Who would be so bold?
But we do make justifications for things that are outside the box of what is Christian…
Maybe we justify our unforgiveness…
We say that the person who offended us needs to repent, and until then we are justified in being unforgiving.
Maybe as husbands, we are unloving…
We say that our wife is disrespectful and so, we are justified in not being actively engaged in loving her.
Maybe as wives, you are disrespectful…
You say that your husband is unloving…he’s harsh and cold, and so you are justified in doing your own thing and going your own way.
As Black people, we say White supremacy is evil – and it is! Yet, we justify ourselves in being unreconciled…we don’t even want reconciliation.
We appease ourselves by fooling ourselves into believing that we won’t be held accountable to the Gospel…that our unrepentant, merciless, obstinate thoughts, words and deeds will be seen as good in God’s eyes. We believe that somehow God will delight in us, while we are at odds with the Way.
Or we blame the God of justice for our condition, questioning why He is “absent.”
But when the Lord comes into His temple, “who can endure the day of His coming? And who can withstand His appearance?”
Should we really take a chance that God will delight in us while remaining unreconciled?
The Lord is coming brothers and sisters! Think on that! And, consider how you want Him to find you when He comes…
