Standing in the Gap
2:00 AM
It is no secret that fewer people are serving Christ now more than ever. The fact that so many people have fallen away creates a gap for the rest of us to fill. We must step up, and we must be the ones to serve, lead, and win the world for Christ. We can find the call to stand in this gap in Ezekiel 22. In this chapter, God is looking for a reason not to destroy the land, but all He can see is evil. The evil even extended to the men who were meant to be the spiritual leaders of the land - the priests. They were calling upon false prophets; therefore, they were no better than the rest of the world they were trying to win. Finally, the Lord proclaimed:
And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. -Ezekiel 22:30
Obviously, there was a large gap for the Christians of Ezekiel 22 to fill. However, the gap for the present day Christians to fill is just as great. When the Lord looks down upon our land, He will either see you standing in the gap, or He will see you creating a larger gap - there is no middle ground. In Matthew Henry's commentary of Ezekiel 22, he states the following:
Sin makes a gap in the hedge of protection that is about a people at which good things run out from them and evil things pour in upon them, a gap by which God enters to destroy them. There is a way of standing in the gap, and making up the breach against the judgments of God, by repentance, and prayer, and reformation. Moses stood in the gap when he made intercession for Israel turn away the wrath of God.
Sin is the result of the gap. Whenever we choose to do what we want instead of what God wants for our life, we are sinning; thus, we are creating a larger gap for the rest of the Christians to fill. In other words, the other Christians will have a greater burden on their back that they were never meant to carry when we do not do our part to evangelize the world.
The two groups of people who leave the gap for us to fill are the ones who have experienced death: physical and spiritual. Sin is the cause of the gap, and as we know, the result of sin is physical death. The result of unrepented sin is spiritual death.
Physical Death
Obviously, every man, woman, and child will die at some point in their life; it is inevitable. When a great Christian passes away, it leaves an even greater gap for those of us left behind to fill. The deceased can no longer invite others to church, encourage fellow believers, or witness to the world; therefore, the remaining Christians must work harder when a fellow believer is called home. If it is at all possible, then maybe we could even use that tragedy as a witnessing opportunity. My father has made stickers that my family puts on tracts, making our tragedy a witnessing opportunity.
This year alone, I have personally known three strong Christians to pass away, and those three souls have left a gaping hole for us to try to fill. It is time for us to stop waiting for someone else to stand up for what is right while we remain seated. If we want the world to change, we must first show that change in our lives. We can no longer wait for another Christian to spark a revival or witness to our lost loved one; we must be the ones who take the initiative to do it ourselves.
Spiritual Death
And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. -Ezekiel 22:30
Obviously, there was a large gap for the Christians of Ezekiel 22 to fill. However, the gap for the present day Christians to fill is just as great. When the Lord looks down upon our land, He will either see you standing in the gap, or He will see you creating a larger gap - there is no middle ground. In Matthew Henry's commentary of Ezekiel 22, he states the following:
Sin makes a gap in the hedge of protection that is about a people at which good things run out from them and evil things pour in upon them, a gap by which God enters to destroy them. There is a way of standing in the gap, and making up the breach against the judgments of God, by repentance, and prayer, and reformation. Moses stood in the gap when he made intercession for Israel turn away the wrath of God.
Sin is the result of the gap. Whenever we choose to do what we want instead of what God wants for our life, we are sinning; thus, we are creating a larger gap for the rest of the Christians to fill. In other words, the other Christians will have a greater burden on their back that they were never meant to carry when we do not do our part to evangelize the world.
The two groups of people who leave the gap for us to fill are the ones who have experienced death: physical and spiritual. Sin is the cause of the gap, and as we know, the result of sin is physical death. The result of unrepented sin is spiritual death.
Physical Death
Obviously, every man, woman, and child will die at some point in their life; it is inevitable. When a great Christian passes away, it leaves an even greater gap for those of us left behind to fill. The deceased can no longer invite others to church, encourage fellow believers, or witness to the world; therefore, the remaining Christians must work harder when a fellow believer is called home. If it is at all possible, then maybe we could even use that tragedy as a witnessing opportunity. My father has made stickers that my family puts on tracts, making our tragedy a witnessing opportunity.
This year alone, I have personally known three strong Christians to pass away, and those three souls have left a gaping hole for us to try to fill. It is time for us to stop waiting for someone else to stand up for what is right while we remain seated. If we want the world to change, we must first show that change in our lives. We can no longer wait for another Christian to spark a revival or witness to our lost loved one; we must be the ones who take the initiative to do it ourselves.
Spiritual Death
The second death that the believer could experience is spiritual death. In this death, the believer is living, but for all of the wrong reasons making their life ineffective for Christ. My pastor recently shared with my congregation the fact that the average believer serves the Lord for five years, then they will slowly fall away from the things of God. This does not have to be you. Even if you are one of the ones who are falling away from the Lord, you can change that today. Everyone sins; everyone "messes up", but that does not have to be the story of the rest of your life. I would hate to live my entire life for myself and have nothing to offer the Lord when I get to heaven when I could have changed the course of my life at any moment to be honoring to the Lord.
A missionary passing through recently told me that it is the little things that cause Christians to fall away from God. It is not often a big or dramatic event that causes someone to stop serving Christ; rather, it is a slow process. This process can begin with the believer ceasing to pray. They could then slowly start to miss their daily devotions then, suddenly, it comes to a screeching halt. Soon after, they could begin to miss one church service a week, and, of course, that one missed service spreads to the rest of the services. Now, they are not doing their daily devotions, praying, or coming to church; and they have completely fallen away from everything they have once stood for. So, it is often not a big, dramatic thing; rather, it is many little things added together.
We must stand in the gap that is laid before us. In the end, it does not matter who has left the gap for us to fill or what type of death that they have experienced whether that was a physical death or a spiritual death. Of course, we must try to do everything that we can to help other Christians and to encourage them to continue serving the Lord, especially if they have fallen away; however, we must not let their decision to follow the world change our decision to follow the Lord. Rather, we must work harder than ever. We must guard our own hearts from becoming spiritually dead by not letting a day pass by that we are everything that we can be for Christ.
3 comments
This article was so good. I think sometimes we often get discouraged seeing so many Christians turn away from their faith in God. This article was on point about having a desire not to give in, but to truly walk with the Lord and to not be a lazy Christian but to be doing all that the Lord wants us to do.
ReplyDeleteErica, thank you so much! I am so glad that you liked it. You are right, we, as Christians, need to be doing everything that we can to be filling the gaps that have been laid before us instead of being a lazy Christian. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
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