God gave an interesting command to Ezekiel, telling him to preach the truth and noting that if he didn’t, then he would be accountable for the people, but if he did, then the people would be accountable.
I’m not saying that command applies to present day Christians, but it is worth thinking about. Do we warn others of the truth? If we thought we’d be accountable for withholding the truth would that change things?
Ezekiel 3:16-21 And at the end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me:”Son of man, I have made you a watchman 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, ‘You shall surely die,’and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.”
Definitely worth praying about. As a pastor, I have to constantly remind myself to speak the truth to the best of my ability, even when I know there are those who will be made uncomfortable by that truth. There are even those who reject it outright. Most never say anything, but they don’t take the truth to heart.
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