Focus from Ezekiel 33

Today I am commenting on Ezekiel 33:7-11, which reads:

So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, "O wicked ones, you shall surely die," and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life. Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: "Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?" Say to them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?

Everyone has heard the old saying, “You can’t see the forest for the trees,” but some people may not understand the full ramifications of that phrase. When we get so involved in the details of an event, process, or activity that we lose our focus on the purpose we are trying to achieve, then we can’t see the forest for the trees.  This is often the case when it comes to sharing our faith and when it comes to correcting fellow Believers who have lost their way.

Sins of Commission

As Ezekiel clearly asserts in our focal passage above, when we share God’s Truth with people our purpose is to turn their hearts back to the Lord. It is not about being right, or scoring points, or showing off our own spirituality. Confronting another with Truth, be they Christians, or be they non-believers, has a purpose and that purpose is to help them turn from their wicked ways and be reconciled with God.

Jonah is an excellent, Biblical example of someone who lost their focus. He didn’t want to go to Nineveh and preach to the citizens of that great but wicked city, but when he did, they repented. A revival broke out in that place, and what preacher would not want to see such fruit from his labors? Well, Jonah for one:

But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” (Jonah 4:1-3)

Jonah clearly lost his focus. He acted is if God’s purpose was to embarrass him. Jonah forgot that God sent him to Nineveh to give them a chance to repent, not just so God had an excuse to destroy them and their city. God rebuked Jonah and in the same way he will rebuke us if we misuse our opportunities to share the Good News with those who need it.

Sins of Omission

In the same way, however, we must never forget that we have been called to share God’s Truth with those who need it. The only thing worse than sharing the Good News with the wrong motive is to not share the Good News at all. 

Christians often get so focused on how, when, or with whom to share the Gospel, that they suffer from the paralysis of analysis and do nothing. When confronted with a crisis people often have the impulse to flee or fight, but many also freeze in place. Again, the only thing worse than sharing the Gospel with the wrong motive is failing to share it at all. 

Many ministry models are operative in the 21st Century that go the extra mile to be relevant and gain a hearing, but ultimately fail to actually share the Good News. For example, I worked some years ago with a missionary to university students who once confessed, “I work so hard at being culturally appropriate in my relationships that I often overlook opportunities to share the Gospel.”  If we fail to share the Truth after we have worked so hard to gain a hearing, then we have lost our focus.

Conclusion

In the movie The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson was the senior British officer at a jungle camp where the Japanese were employing British prisoners of war to build a railroad through the wilds of Burma. Nicholson was appalled by the lack of morale and discipline among the British troops, and he used the construction of a railroad bridge as a means of restoring order and pride among the British soldiers. He did this so well, that the bridge was built sooner and far better than the Japanese could hope for, and in the process, he did rebuild the morale and discipline of his regiment.

The problem was, of course, his purpose as an officer in the British Army was not to rebuild the pride of his regiment (and one might say he was actually rebuilding his own pride in his regiment), but to resist the Japanese military efforts. Building his enemies a better bridge than they could have produced themselves was not a valid part of that purpose. Nicholson lost his focus, and at the end of the movie he lost his life.

We can’t fall into the trap of failing to see the forest for the trees. We must maintain our focus and as Stephen Covey, the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has said, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt