It is said that no man lives unto himself, and our lives are indelibly linked to others. The more that I walk this earth, the more I understand the truth of that statement. We do not live in a vacuum and as a result of that our actions directly influences the lives of those around us, whether we are aware of it or not. As I study the Bible, the Holy Spirit is driving home to my heart the power of influence. It is one thing to choose to be lost and reject God; it’s a totally different matter to take others with you to the city of destruction.
This morning during devotion, the Lord led me to consider the story of Manasseh, king of Judah. Now, Manasseh was the son of Hezekiah and his wife Hephzibah. The story of Manasseh can be found in 2 Kings 21 and 2 Chronicles 33, there the Bible records that “he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.” The chapter then begins to list the litany of evils that he committed. As matter of fact, the sins of Manasseh attributed tothe Lord allowing the children of Israel to be taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 21:10-16). Nevertheless, as you read through the chapter something amazing happens. The Lord allows the Assyrian’s to come and capture Manasseh. He is taken bound and fettered to Babylon. And this is where we take up the story in 2 Chronicles 33:12-13, “And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, And prayed unto him: and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.” There humbled in a strange jail cell, Manasseh repents and experiences a change of heart. And we would say, “Praise the Lord, that’s marvelous,” and indeed it is marvelous. Yet the story does not end there.
When Manasseh goes back to Jerusalem, he begins to work diligently on undoing the wrongs he committed. He tries to lead the people back to the worship of the true God and breaks down the high places he had set up. Yet, in spite of all that he tried to do, the Bible records that the people still continued to sacrifice in the high places. In other words, though Manasseh was now ready to get back on the straight and narrow, those he had led into sin were not. Though he now repented of his sin and saw the errors of his way, there were thousands he had influenced into evil that were not able to shake it off as easily as he had. And this is the point that I desire to hammer home.
By our evil communications we can corrupt the good manners of those around us. By the sins that we cherish we can be staining the souls of those we come into contact with. And if by the grace of God we repent, there are still individuals who are marred by our actions. When we have decided that we’re through with playing with God, we might have led someone so far down the road to destruction that it’s almost impossible for them to come back. And though God is faithful to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us, our conscience will not easily let us forget that there is someone out in darkness that we led there; that there is someone who is practicing sins that we taught them; and that there is someone who is in love with the devil because we hooked them up. It is not a light thing to be guilty of leading others into sin.
I grew up in the church but went back and forth innumerable times. Though, I knew better I found myself in places a Christian had no place being and doing things I had no business doing. When the Lord grabbed hold of me, I had to go back and apologize to some of the same folks I hung out with. Why? The answer is simple I knew better. By my actions, I was giving sanction to sin and vice, I was telling them that it was okay to do what they were doing because I was joining them. And worse of all, sometimes I was the initiator of that vice.
Let us humbly consider ourselves. Let us not be found guilty of the sin of leading others into the iron grip of sin. Faithfully do the right that you know to do and put no stumbling block before others. I pray that on that great day, no one will turn to anyone of us and accuse us of being the reason why they are lost. Remember Manasseh!
Tags: bible truth, dead king, Manasseh, present truth
June 2nd, 2009 at 3:58 am
Hi, good post. I have been wondering about this issue,so thanks for posting.