Duty over Desire

Let others laugh when you sacrifice desire to duty, if they will. You have time and eternity to rejoice in.
Theodore Parker (1810-1860, American minister)

Ezra 10:11-12
"Now therefore, make confession to the LORD God of your fathers and do His will; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives." Then all the assembly replied with a loud voice, "That's right! As you have said, so it is our duty to do. NASU

Duty, as defined by Webster: obligatory tasks, conduct, service, or functions that arise from one’s position (as in life or in a group.) One of the most important duties that we have as Christians is to maintain our identity and to preserve our heritage. Our lives must be testimony and witness to our God.

Many Christians today do not regard their spiritual obligations as duties, but as things that they will do if they get time, Many times their will modifies their duties to fit their lifestyle, which they put above God, as the people of Israel had done at this time. They had married foreign wives, who brought foreign gods and practices into the midst of the congregation, and threatened their testimony and witness.

Ezra was God’s man for that day. Seventeen priests, ten Levites, and eighty-six men of the congregation of Israel were found guilty, and each put away his foreign wife, after offering a ram for his trespass. I am sure it wasn’t a popular decision, for some had children by these wives, but it was necessary. Now what things do you think God would ask you and I to put aside today? …God Bless.

Pastor William