READING:
One-year plan: Ezekiel 33-36
Two-year plan: Jeremiah 19-21, 2 Timothy 2:14-26
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I remember the first time I heard these words: “If you don’t tell people about Jesus and they die lost, their blood will be on your hands.” I was a young believer, and the speaker was a passionate, fiery, concerned evangelist. I don’t recall his tying the words strongly to the book of Ezekiel, but I know his words left an impression on me. Those images still bounce around in my head when I read God’s words to Ezekiel: “As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from My mouth, give them a warning from Me. If I say to the wicked, ‘Wicked one, you will surely die,’ but you do not speak out to warn him about his way, that wicked person will die for his iniquity, yet I will hold you responsible for his blood. But if you warn a wicked person to turn from his way and he doesn’t turn from it, he will die for his iniquity, but you will have saved your life” (Ezek 33:7-9).
While I still recognize from this text my fundamental responsibility and accountability to tell people about Christ, I’m also now more aware of this simple truth: the work of the watchman is seldom an easy task. Sometimes the task of the watchman is to warn people of coming judgment if they do not repent and turn to God. We would hope everyone would hear about the love of God and thus run to His arms; for some of us, though (like me), it was the reality of hell that God first used to awaken us to our need for a Savior. My 12-year-old classmate who told me about hell was perhaps not the greatest evangelist, but he was certainly playing the role of the watchman in my life. He warned me well – and for those efforts I will be eternally grateful.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Are you working hard to tell others about Jesus?
PRAYER: “God, help me to be a good watchman.”
TOMORROW’S READING:
One-year plan: Ezekiel 37-40
Two-year plan: Jeremiah 22, 2 Timothy 3:1-9
MEMORIZATION VERSE (September 1-15)
“For what does it benefit someone to gain the whole world and yet lose his life?” (Mark 8:36)
