5/10 Strength for Today

God Still Has a Place for You

Ezekiel 44:14
“But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.”

In the verse above Ezekiel prophesied to the house of Israel about the future temple that would be built, and the responsibilities of the priests and Levites in this temple. God said that the Levites who worshipped idols and caused the children of Israel to stray from Him would have to bear their iniquity. In fact, God said because they did this they would not be able to go near to God and minister near the holy place. God said because they had committed this sin, they had forfeited the right to be able to hold this position.

What I love is even though they had forfeited their right to minister near the priest and the holy place, God shows us in the verse above that He was still willing to use them. God said that though they had forfeited their right to hold their original position, He would still allow them to serve Him by taking care of the house of God.

This message from God is a great illustration of His mercy. Yes, God must judge sin, but God is always willing to use His people to some capacity. Though sin must be judged, God still has a place for His people to serve. Christian, when you do wrong and sin against God, you must understand that your sin will cause you to forfeit the right to be able to do certain things. Sin has consequences that come with it. Yes, God will forgive you if you sin, but that does not take away the consequences of sin. This is why you must consider the ramifications of any sin that you want to commit. Before you choose to sin, you better ask yourself if you are willing to give up what you have.

If you have sinned, let me encourage you to understand that God can still use you. It doesn't matter how “bad” the sin may be, God can still use you in His work in some capacity. Though your life may have been messed up in sin, and though you may have forfeited the right to do certain things for God, you will never forfeit the right to be used by God. The prodigal son who returned to his father could still be used, but he was never able to hold the position that his brother, who was faithful, held. This is the reward for doing right. There are privileges that you can have for doing what you are supposed to do. Even though you may have sinned and ruined a portion of your life, God can still use you.

Let's remember to not cast away those who have sinned. Let's remember that God can still use them. Let's also not forget that God can still use you if you are the one who has sinned. So, clean up your life and get involved in serving God again, because God still has a place for you to serve.