“Rejecting God”


BIBLE READING: 1Kings 10-12

                One of the main themes of the Bible is the fact that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God.  In fact, there are numerous passages that remind us that God will never leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31.8; Matthew 28.20; Hebrews 13.6).  Paul even goes into great detail to explain to us God’s ever present, unlimited love for us.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39)
There is nothing that we could ever do that will separate us from God’s love that he has for us, yet we can turn our back on it.   The love is still there, the arms still outstretched to grasp us; yet, we can, we have and we will at times…reject it.  Our reading today takes us down the dark path of King Solomon, a man who once had it all, wealth, wisdom and the ever-abiding presence of God.  However, at this point of Solomon’s life, he has chosen to reject God’s love and turn his attention to other things. 
“For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father…Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods. And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD commanded.”                                                                                                                            (1 Kings 11:4-10)
Church, if it was possible for the world’s wisest man to turn away and reject the outstretched arms of God to accept the evil ways of this world, we too are subject to fall.  But remember, God is always there!  He is always ready to accept us back.  Let’s not allow ourselves to get so far that we cannot find our way back.




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