How often as Christians do we let our past sins influence our thoughts? How often do we feel unworthy or ashamed? How often do we think that we couldn’t amount to anything useful by God? This is one of the downfalls of sin. It can be a stumbling block on our future path.
Around 420 B.C. during the time of Jewish captivity, Ezra travels to Jerusalem for the first time in an attempt to rebuild the city. He arrives expecting to find the Jewish exiles ready and willing to do God’s work. Instead, he finds a weak and defenseless remnant with inhabitants that have compromised their values and turned away from their God. Many of the Jews have taken pagan wives and have even divorced their Jewish wives to do so. In an effort to reestablish their religion, culture, and their ties to God, these men are listed as taking an oath to restore themselves before God. Ezra chapter 10 is a record of these men listed by name. These men have sinned against God and corrupted the Jewish culture and they are attempting to correct their actions.
In Nehemiah chapter 3, there is a man named Malchijah who is listed among those who helped rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. This same man is listed in Ezra. He had sinned against God and his own people, but he didn’t let that stop him from doing the work that God put before him.
So often we talk ourselves out of doing the right thing because at one point we did the wrong thing. This in itself is wrong. There are many trials in our lives. We will fail. Probably a lot. This doesn’t mean we can’t do what’s right. There will be many times in our lives where we can look at our past mistakes and learn from them and even teach others about them. Sin is wrong, but God can still use us in our impure, imperfect state. Take your stumbling block and turn it into a steppingstone to keep yourself and others on the straight and narrow.
Finding His Footsteps 