Praying For Sinners
In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the foreigner and mistreated the fatherless and the widow. You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths. In you are slanderers who are bent on shedding blood; in you are those who eat at the mountain shrines and commit lewd acts. In you are those who dishonor their father’s bed; in you are those who violate women during their period, when they are ceremonially unclean. In you one man commits a detestable offense with his neighbor’s wife, another shamefully defiles his daughter-in-law, and another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter. In you are people who accept bribes to shed blood; you take interest and make a profit from the poor. You extort unjust gain from your neighbors. And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign Lord. (Ezekiel 22:7-12)
When you read the text, you see a long list of sins and immoral deeds committed by the people of the land: violence against women, murder, idolatry, corruption, and injustice. If we’re being honest, it would be difficult to pray for people who took part in such terrible actions. It’s easy to pray for people who fit your framework of what is morally and ethically right, but it’s another thing to pray for people who in your mind are living outside the will of God.
For so many of us, our excuse for not praying for people is because of the knowledge we have of what people have done. We think that our knowledge of what people have done is a pretext to disqualify them. For instance, it’s one thing to pray for your colleague when you know they go to church and are faithful to God, but it’s another thing to pray for her when she’s being unfaithful to her husband. To be an intercessor, you have to pray for people, even when you know what they’re doing isn’t right. And the only way you’ll do that is if you remember that you aren’t morally and spiritually perfect yourself.
When you are aware of your need for grace and mercy, it is much easier for you to extend that same grace and mercy to others. Let’s not forget our own sins and shortcomings so that we can be gracious towards other sinners like us and pray for redemption in their lives.
When you read the text, you see a long list of sins and immoral deeds committed by the people of the land: violence against women, murder, idolatry, corruption, and injustice. If we’re being honest, it would be difficult to pray for people who took part in such terrible actions. It’s easy to pray for people who fit your framework of what is morally and ethically right, but it’s another thing to pray for people who in your mind are living outside the will of God.
For so many of us, our excuse for not praying for people is because of the knowledge we have of what people have done. We think that our knowledge of what people have done is a pretext to disqualify them. For instance, it’s one thing to pray for your colleague when you know they go to church and are faithful to God, but it’s another thing to pray for her when she’s being unfaithful to her husband. To be an intercessor, you have to pray for people, even when you know what they’re doing isn’t right. And the only way you’ll do that is if you remember that you aren’t morally and spiritually perfect yourself.
When you are aware of your need for grace and mercy, it is much easier for you to extend that same grace and mercy to others. Let’s not forget our own sins and shortcomings so that we can be gracious towards other sinners like us and pray for redemption in their lives.
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