But Moses said, “It would not be right to do so, for the offerings we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God are an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? Exodus 8:26 – After three more plagues Pharaoh speaks to Moses and is seeking a compromise to end the devastation. Pharaoh agreed to let God’s people go do their sacrifices like they asked to, but it must be done in the land of Egypt. That option though wouldn’t work, for the Israelites would be sacrificing cows, goats, and sheep, all animals that were sacred to the Egyptians. If the Egyptians saw them doing this, not only would they react in anger toward the Israelites, but they would be completely turned off from the Lord. Let us remember, while the plagues were coming on all the people of Egypt, God’s aim wasn’t to turn all the hearts of the Egyptians away from Him. The Lord was doing all this to show His power and to turn Pharoah’s heart to Himself. In fact, we even see in Exodus 12:38 that during the exodus and “mixed multitude” of people went with the Israelites, showing that some of the Egyptians turn to believe in the Lord as a result of what God had done. As Moses did here in our verse, let us be careful not to be an “abomination” to those outside our faith. Yes, we are going to live faithfully and not compromise our beliefs, but if by our actions we are giving a sour representation of Jesus to those who don’t yet believe then we’ve missed the point. Our freedoms in Christ ought to be used to demonstrate the wonders of the Lord to people, not to purposely turn people away from Jesus. Dwell on the ways you live out your Christian walk in front of those who don’t follow Jesus, and even those who follow other religions. Would they be turned off of Jesus by how you live or would they be attracted to Him because of your life? I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3152
Question To Ponder: How have you seen a Christian live out their walk improperly that would turn people away from Jesus?
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