27 August 2009 Devotion for Today "It is Your Duty" Ezra 10:3-4

3Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the foreign wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the command of our God; and let it be done according to the Law. 4 Arise, for it is your duty, and we are with you. Be strong and brave and do it. ( Ezra 10:3-4)

Earlier this month we watched proudly as our son Jared graduated from basic training at the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey. The ceremony opened as the recruits marched in formation on the parade ground. At first it was difficult to pick our son out from the formation of his recruit company- they were all standing stiffly at attention- and did not recognize him until soon before his name was called to receive his training certificate from the commander and to shake hands with the Admiral. The band played and the drill team performed their routine. There were speeches made by the commander of the training center, and by Admiral Thad Allen, commandant of the US Coast Guard- hero of the relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. At the close of his speech, Admiral Allen said, "You are now members of the United States Coast Guard. You are Semper Paratus. Go now and do your duty to your country! "

Duty- outside of the military and those vested to look after our needs of public saftey, this is not a word we hear stressed very much in the 21st century. Duty, to some, is a four-letter-word. We have been used to being able to do what we want to do when we want to do it for so long now that we forget that there are others who are prepared to sacrifice their lives in order that we may enjoy the rights that were once granted to us as privileges. The Admiral said that it was the duty of the US Coast Guard to go out when others are coming in. He was referring to going out in cutters and boats, planes and helicopters to rescue those in danger of being lost at sea. As he spoke, I reflected upon my duty as a pastor and minister of Jesus Christ. When storms of life blow upon the world, most are going in to seek refuge. But as ministers, we go out to find the lost souls in danger of drowning in the sea of sin. Going out in a storm is seldom pleasant, and fraught with peril of all kinds, yet the reward of saving a life overrides those horrific tasks. We have a job to do, and we too are Semper Paratus (always ready)!

Ezra and his colleagues confronted a storm of another kind- a spiritual storm surrounded by a hurricane of compromise. As I mentioned last time, Ezra was confronted with the fact that many if not most of the priests dedicated to perform their ritual duties in the Temple were defiled by pagan wives. The situation was far worse than he had imagined. It would have been easy to say, "let's just go along with it, and in a couple of generations it will all be right again." But he also knew that God would neither tolerate nor accept the sacrificial offerings and other rites performed in worship at the Temple. Ezra had a duty to perform, and it was not a pleasant one. He risked alienating the people he had worked so hard to lead, and for whom he had already sacrificed so much. To his amazement, the leaders of his people rallied around him in support. Not only did the priests put away their pagan wives, but the people did as well.

Would that we were always as ready to do our duty as Ezra and his people were. You will have a job to do today. To be sure the pressure to skirt around the rules or to make something fit will be there constantly asking you to fall in with the others and compromise. But you have a duty far greater than the needs of your popularity. Your duty is to God. Go and do it today!