Enemies of God

The enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were rebuilding a Temple to the Lord, the God of Israel. So they approached Zerubbabel and the other leaders and said, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God just as you do. We have sacrificed to him ever since King Esarhaddon of Assyria brought us here.”

But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other leaders of Israel replied, “You may have no part in this work. We alone will build the Temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, just as King Cyrus of Persia commanded us.”

Then the local residents tried to discourage and frighten the people of Judah to keep them from their work. They bribed agents to work against them and to frustrate their plans. This went on during the entire reign of King Cyrus of Persia and lasted until King Darius of Persia took the throne. [Ezra 4.1-5]

There is an interesting characteristic of Godlessness neatly revealed in this short passage in Ezra.

A lot of people claim to be "on the same page" with Christianity. However, when they are excluded by Christianity, their true nature is revealed - they work against the very movement they originally claimed to work with!

Many of us have witnessed this in the actions of children. We have seen one child playing with something when another child approaches demanding to be included. But when the first child refuses the other, the other is quick to wreak havoc on the first (kicking down the sandcastle, or the likes).

There are many denominations in the earth today. Many of these claim allegiance to the One and Same God. However, and unfortunately so, when there is a difference of opinion, instead of simply backing off and continuing to worship as they claimed to have been before, those who are not God's reveal their true nature by attacking and maligning those who do not see eye-to-eye with them. They make themselves enemies of God.

Not everyone will always agree on everything. But, in disagreement, those with the Spirit of God will distinguish themselves from those without the Spirit of God by the evidence of which one proceeds to malign the other.

It's one thing to claim to operate by the Spirit of the Living God and quite another to live it out. I am not saying it is easy - some people are quite insufferable - but more times than not, those who live behind a facade of Christianity will eventually not only oppose but attack those who are genuine.

Father, help me to be genuine in my devotion to You and not be found as an enemy of God.