If the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood. Son of man, I have made you a watchman...

Ezekiel 33:6-7, NIV 

The British are coming, the British are coming!

Paul Revere

Which would you rather tell a child - that we are having ice cream for dessert, or that he has to get a shot today? Which would the child rather hear? For that matter, which statement would we rather hear? The fact is that we would all rather be the giver, as well as the recipient, of good news any day of the week. It's just a lot more fun.

I imagine that the people of the prophet Ezekiel's time were just about sick of hearing his warnings from God concerning their need to turn from their evil ways. God knew that this would be the case, but He still did not resolve Ezekiel from giving the warning all the same. God had made Ezekiel a watchman, and he simply had the responsibility to report on what he had seen and heard.

I imagine that the people of Paul Revere's day were also getting sick of hearing from all these "patriots" what was wrong with their country and their king. Since only about 10% of Americans actually fought on the side of the revolutionaries at the beginning, it is safe to assume that their message of warnings were wearing a bit thin. It would have been a lot more fun for Paul Revere to ride through the countryside and villages shouting, "Who wants ice cream", but the fun would have soon turned to misery since the British really were coming and they really were in danger. Also, ice cream had yet to be invented.

It's the same today. Whether the message is that we need to turn from sin or that there are enemies in high places, no one really wants to hear it. A college kid wasting his years with one drunken party after another does not want to hear that what he is doing is wrong. He really doesn't want to hear that he may become an addict from this behavior either. What he is interested in is more alcohol and more drugs.

Unfortunately, no one wants to hear that they may be separated from Christ either. No one wants to hear that they are in danger of being lost. They are convinced that they are destined for Heaven and that anyone who questions their particular path towards that destination is just judging them. Didn't Jesus tell us not to judge? Almost as unfortunate is the fact that no one wants to hear that the people they have supported are wicked. Few people want to hear that the national debt is so bad that it may end up enslaving their children, and fewer still want to hear that their support for deviant behavior will enslave their kids and grandkids just as quickly. 

But the fact is that our nation has serious problems that must be warned against. This is what patriots do. An even more important fact is that sin will separate us from God and make miserable the lives of those who sin and those who are around them. Christians have a duty to warn against such behavior. It's true that these warnings must be given out of love and with as little hypocrisy as humanly possible (we all struggle with hypocrisy, don't we?), but the warnings still must be given. Why? Because we have just as much responsibility to be a watchman in our day as Ezekiel had in his. And while being a watchman is just not much fun at the time, there is a whole lot of joy associated with a sinful man turning away from his sinful behavior. 

I want to emphasize the point that yelling "ice cream" is a lot more fun than yelling "repent", just as yelling "the deviant are your friends and are here to help you" is a lot more fun than yelling "the British are coming!" But in the end, like it or not, we are all watchman of one sort or another. And if we fail in that, some people really may die. On the other hand, if we take our duty to heart and issue the "no fun" warnings that have to be given from time to time, the results for those who heed those warnings will be nothing short of unbelievable joy and salvation. It's something we all need to think about, wouldn't you agree?