Staying On The Right Road

Nehemiah 10:28-29---And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nethinims, and all they that had separated themselves from the people of the lands unto the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, every one having knowledge, and having understanding; They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes;

After the people had confessed their sins and repented, they took the difficult step of making things right with God. Then they went one step further. They took an oath. They realized how easily they slid back into the ways that destroyed the nation before, so they took an oath binding themselves with a curse if they broke it. The oath begins with the very things they had been most likely to compromise, marrying heathen wives, trade on the Sabbath, and not keeping the seventh year release of debts and rest for the land. We know the areas in our lives where we are most likely to compromise. It is usually in the same areas that Israel had problems, sex, and money. They got serious about their weaknesses. They pledged together that if any of them went down that road again they would be justly cursed. How serious are you about sin in your life? Is it enough to make it very costly to do so? They took the curse quite seriously. They had seen the pain and devastation sin caused and said, "If we go there, we deserve what we reap." Have you observed the price of sin in your life? Have you really tallied up the cost of rebellion against the Holy Spirit? I'm not suggesting you take an oath unless you are led to, but I am suggesting you deal with your flesh tendency to go back down that road of compromise. Most of the rest of the oath had to do with financial obligations to the Temple and the commitment to keep the worship ministry alive and well. We have the same obligations in a spiritual sense. The temple is the family of God. Are we caring in love for the body of Christ, or ignoring each other's needs? Are our gatherings for worship as He commanded, "worship in spirit and in truth"?