31/08/2020 - MOMENTARY LOVE

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“O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, And like the early dew it goes away. Hosea 6:4

After the Jeroboam revolt, the Israelite nation was divided into the northern kingdom, whose name remained Israel, and the southern kingdom, called Judah. Composed of ten and two tribes, respectively, both kingdoms did not do God’s will and received a message from the Lord through Hosea.

Ephraim – the most powerful tribe in the North -, the name by which Israel was also known, was unfaithful. Few of his kings were concerned with serving God. Idolaters and sorcerers, they led the people to worship the gods of the surrounding nations, abandoning the Most High. In Judah, there were those who endeavored to follow in the footsteps of David, their father, but, over time, adopted the same practices as the brothers. What would become of these nations?

Although God raised up prophets to warn those leaders about the importance of His commandments, the Lord’s servants were harshly persecuted by some of them. By ignoring the omniscient’s warnings, Israel was besieged and invaded by the relentless Assyrian army and was never the same again. Judah, in turn, saw the temple of God plundered. Jerusalem was destroyed and bitter Babylonian exile, something you would never forget.

The Lord’s care for His own was rewarded with ingratitude and infidelity. They claimed to love Him, but were delighted with immorality and the delicacies of strange gods, who can do nothing. This love, as fleeting as the morning fog and the morning dew, which disappears in the first rays of the sun, was not sufficiently capable of reminding them of the Almighty’s countless deliverances.

Today, many Christians continue to do the same. God sent His Only Begotten, but these people forget divine favor at the first opportunity. They experience liberation and healing, are enveloped in divine love, but exchange the Truth for the devil’s cunning lies and return to ancient practices. Now, if they do not amend, they will be surprised by the enemy, just like Israel and Judah, and seven more demons at their door! (Mt 12.45).

The Day of reckoning will come, and we must be prepared! To love the Lord means to obey Him. We cannot follow one of His precepts and ignore another. God’s will is good, pleasant and perfect, and we must experience it (Rom 12.2). If someone has given himself up to Christ, but has molded himself to the world, he must be truly converted or he will be bitter in defeat, and his weeping will do no good.

He who joyfully serves God is blessed regardless of circumstances. True love is lasting, and whoever receives it does not exchange the Lord’s presence for anything. Open your ears to the Word and keep looking at the Author and Finisher of our faith. Only then will you have the strength to resist the temptation to sin in Jesus’ Name!

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares