Today's Passage:  Ezra 9-10

Have you seen the television show "The Biggest Loser"? (I know what you are thinking...how can you possibly connect Ezra and "The Biggest Loser"?)  This season was the first time I've watched it from start to finish.  There are people on the show that weigh well over 400 pounds, and when asked how they got to that place, all of them have the same answer:  "It was a slow process...I didn't realize what I was doing to myself...It took years, but then one day you wake up and realize how far things have gone." 

That is the story of Ezra 9.  For generations the people had slowly allowed themselves to marry people who didn't believe in God...or worse, had their own gods.  A people fully devoted to the one true God began to find themselves first allowing, then participating in idol worship.  This slow process got them to the point where now their entire country had turned from God.

The winner of the Biggest Loser said it best...it was a slow process to get there, but it took drastic and dramatic action to get things back to where they needed to be (and he would know...he went from over 400 pounds to 191 in a few months!).  Ezra says the same thing:  drastic and immediate action is the only cure for this gradual sin.  They had to separate from the people that were pulling them away from God...their relationship with Him was the most important thing!

This is one of the most prevalent ways Satan tries to get us off track...the "slow fade".  We slowly allow ourselves to get busy, or to hang around people that pull us away from Him, or we adjust our priorities just a little...and we realize way too late that we've gotten so far away from Him that things are not what they should be.  If you are there right now, I encourage you to take drastic actions and get back to a close walk with God!