1 Samuel 4:10-11
10 So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11 The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
Romans 6:1-2
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
A sombre moment for the Israelites as they learnt the hard way that although God had chosen them to be his people, their position didn’t mean that they couldn’t simply live how they wanted to. Paul warned the Christians in Rome about this too – they mistakenly thought that because they were saved they could do what they wanted, and that in some perverse way it glorified God if they sinned, because it meant he forgave them all the more. God has forgiven us and called us to be his family, let us use our freedom to live our lives as well as we can, as lovingly as we can, as graciously as we can, as justly as we can, putting God at the centre of who we are.
Spirit, help us to remember our Father in all our thoughts, decisions and actions.
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