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Long ago, God raised up a nation called Israel to make it a special example for the people around it. But the tragedy was that instead of Israel recognising their calling and privilege, they began to mix with the other nations around them and adopt their gods and practices. Many times God gave them prophets to warn them, disciplined them through defeats, calamities, etc. But every time they had a serious problem, they would return to God, and then when things became comfortable they turned back to the nations. Finally God had to give them over to exile under captivity. Even though God gave them many chances because of the covenant He had made with their father Abraham, they continued to break it from their part.

Now it is our turn, Christians. Through Christ, God has made a new covenant of grace, and He has entrusted to us the responsibility to be His witnesses to the world. We are not only expected to go into the ends of the world and proclaim His Gospel, we are to conduct our lives in such a way that seeing us people should get drawn to God through Jesus (Jn.13:34,35). Through our relationships and our working together as one body in the church, the many sided wisdom of God is to be demonstrated to the powers of darkness (Ep.3:8-10). We are the body of Christ through which He is to take action in the world, against the world and against the works of darkness.

But we have gone astray just like Israel did. We have mingled with the people around us, joined in celebrating their festivals, intermarried with them, and behaved just like them in many practical aspects of life. We made one famous philosopher to say, "When it comes to money, all religions are the same." In relationships, business deals and personal morality, we have adapted ourselves to the world so that others can see practically no difference in us except in the external religious practices. We have humbled ourselves with fasting when things have become difficult for us personally, but when comfort returned we have gone back to our pleasure-loving, thrill-seeking, challenge-avoiding lives, and become irresponsible towards the Saviour, who we proclaim, has given His life for us. Have we learned anything from Israel?

Satan is romping around the world almost freely, deceiving and destroying lives, and producing more immorality and violence than ever before. Of course, in one sense this is as we should expect as the end of the world draws near. But how would things have been if we had been more effective in our witness, and being able to proclaim with power the Gospel of freedom and victory?

But we have failed our Lord. None of us can change the whole system. But what the Lord wants each of us to do is to take up our personal responsibility to cleanse ourselves, separate ourselves and to become effective witnesses for our Lord, doing whatever tasks He has entrusted to us. We remember the words of the Lord, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

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