WEEKLY REFLECTION by Pastor Lap Dinh on 1 Kings‬ ‭9‬:‭6‬-‭9‬

“But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have placed before you, but you go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut Israel off from the land which I have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will expel from My sight. So Israel will become a saying and an object of derision among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by it will be appalled and hiss and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and this house?’ And they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and worshiped and served them, for that reason the Lord has brought all this adversity on them.” ‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭9‬:‭6‬-‭9‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬ The bad news is if / when God's wisdom does not lead us to live godly lives, we can be sure one thing, that is, idolatry, which always leads to destruction from personal level to communal and national level. We are all prone to idolatry. Now the good news is that Jesus Christ alone has the power to turn devastating destruction to restorative construction. A second chance is always available to those who repent. So, it is not perfection that we seek, but godly wisdom in making daily choices that works out toward forming a Christlike character. May this be what we all long for and what we pray for one another.