Tues.’s Devo - True Repentance

Read: Ezra 10:1-44; 1 Corinthians 6:1-20; Psalm 31:9-18; Proverbs 21:3 Many other people repented with Ezra in front of the Temple of the Lord. Shecaniah, one of the guilty came to Ezra with a plan to redeem Israel. He offered to make a covenant with God to divorce their wives and send them and their children away. He encouraged Ezra to lead them in this process. So Ezra got up and demanded that the leaders and all the people swear to do what Shecaniah had said. They all swore they would. A proclamation was made that all the exiles of Judah should come to Jerusalem in three days. If they didn’t come they would forfeit their prophets and be expelled from the assembly of the exiles. All of Judah and Benjamin gathered. It was winter and raining. The people trembled because of their fear of the Lord and the cold. Ezra stood before them telling them the seriousness of their sin of marrying pagan women and what they must do to fix the problem. He told them to confess their sin and separate themselves from these pagan women. They set up scheduled times to come and do a legal divorce ceremony. The list of offenders were written down. Some of them even had children. True repentance is not just being sorry for what you did, but fixing it by making a change. That is what they did. In Ezra we have an example of how the church should handle its problems but in Corinthians they were having secular courts handle their problems. Paul rebuked them for not understanding who they were and their authority. He explained that one day the believers will judge the world and angels so they should not be going to pagan lawyers to settle disputes among themselves. They were guilty of bringing other believers to court to sue them. He told them they should just take the injustice and let themselves be cheated since it was their brothers. Some of them were the ones doing the wrong. People who indulge in sinful lifestyles will not inherit the kingdom of God. Paul explained that just because we have forgiveness does not mean that sin is good for us and won’t hurt us because it will. Our bodies are actually parts of Christ. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. We have been bought with a high price - the price of the body and blood of Jesus. Lord, may we honor you today in our spirits and our bodies.