He holds us responsible

Today in the One Year Bible, we read from Ezekiel 3:16-6:14. God tells Ezekiel that He wants him to tell the people that what they're doing is wrong and they need to repent. God tells Ezekiel that he's not responsible for whether they listen and repent or not - that's up to the people. But Ezekiel IS responsible for telling them what He said. If he tells them what God says and they don't repent, Ezekiel will have done what God asked and God will be happy with him.

Of course, God is calling us to do the same thing. He is calling us to tell the world what sin is, what truth is, and show them what love looks like. If they turn away from their sins, find the truth, and learn to love, then that's awesome. But if we show them and they refuse to turn from their sins, then that's bad but we've done what God told us to do. He's pleased with us even if He's not happy with them.

But if we refuse to tell them what He says... if we think, "They're not going to listen anyway," or "What if they make fun of me?" or "They deserve what they get!" and don't warn them... then God will hold us responsible for them.

So share the truth. Tell people what sin is. Don't be afraid. Demonstrate what love looks like. Who knows? Maybe they'll actually listen to you.

God, thanks for calling us to help reach out to a fallen world.