The soul who sins will die. The son will not bear the iniquity of the father, nor will the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself. Ezekiel 18:20 LSB
This Scripture passage tells us we will answer for our sins alone. We will each stand accountable for our sins.
Many people believe the lies the devil tells them. The devil likes to tell us our sin is not so bad. He wants us to think God will overlook it. He wants us to believe we can get away with it. He tells us God is a loving, merciful God who won’t punish us for our sin. These are all lies.
God detests evil. If we follow the devil and believe his lies, we fall into evil behavior. God wants us all to live in heaven with Him, but He gives us a choice. He doesn’t force His love on us, we must choose to accept it or reject it. The choice is ours.
In the following verses in Ezekiel 18, it goes on to say that if the evil person will turn away from his wickedness and repent and keep God’s commands, God will forgive him, and all his sins will be forgotten, and he will live and not die.
In verse 23, God says, “Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked, is it not that he should turn from his ways and live?” God doesn’t take pleasure in punishing us for our sin, but He is a just God and He must punish evil.
We must also remember when someone perpetrates evil against us, God will avenge us. We are told in Romans 12:19, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
If you have accepted Christ as your Savior, you have become a child of God. You are a member of God’s family. When someone messes with you, they are messing with God’s child. As a child of God, we must let our heavenly Father handle it. We are not to step in and try to take over, we are to leave it to Him.
God will punish evil behavior. Sometimes it seems to take a while, but we are told in 2 Peter 3:9 that God is not slow as some of us consider slowness, but He is patient. God wants everyone to repent and be saved. He gives us ample opportunity to do this.
I don’t know about you, but I’d had times when I lived my life in a way that didn’t please God. I thank God He was patient with me. I have also learned that my job is to love my enemy and pray for those who persecute me (Luke 6:35). When I do this God handles the matter as He sees fit. And I can tell you there have been times when I have prayed for God’s mercy on someone who has come against me or someone I love.
When we pray for someone to be saved and to come to know the Lord, it changes our hearts. It helps us to forgive that person. If they repent of their evil and accept Christ as their Savior, they become our brother or our sister in Christ. If they fail to do so, they experience God’s wrath.
Please understand God will not tolerate your sin. He will also not tolerate someone sinning against one of his children. If you are lost in sin today, confess your sin to Him, accept Christ as your Savior and repent, give it all over to Him. He is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
If someone sins against you, pray for them, ask God to help you forgive them and turn it over to God. Let Him handle it.
God does not tolerate evil; be sure you take no part in it (Ephesians 5:11).
Have a great day!