You see Christian, you and I are the watchmen. We must show the love and grace of Jesus. We must not pull the punches and fail to speak when there is truth that must be declared. We must be brutally honest. This world needs (though often does not want to hear) the truth and it needs to be bold in our proclamation of what is true. However, we must speak the truth in love.
“But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”
You look in the mirror, you’re brushing your teeth. Your eyes are pale; your mind is in some other distant place distracted by various grey clouds that are hanging intangibly out of reach. You deal with these problems the same way each day. You don’t know who you are anymore. The cloudy days linger. But you know deep down inside that you’ve got a problem with God. You know that you’ve got a real problem. You’ve got sin in your life.
If the voices of prophets, angels and other leaders for God is binding, how much more binding is the voice of Jesus?? How much more binding is the Word of the Scriptures? Yet because we do not see the consequences as evident in our lives, we refuse to listen. The immediate consequences that come from the hardening of hearts might not be the judgment of God, but He certainly allows in His perfect merciful wrath necessary reminders of what happens when we don’t hearken to the voice of God. When we harden our hearts and aren’t obedient we deny ourselves the chance for God to open the storehouses and shower down blessings upon us for our willingness to change, for our obedience.