Something just hit me...

Something just hit me. I was reading Ezra, and chapter 9 caught my attention. It illustrates something so major, yet something a lot of us so easily overlook. The people of Israel began to take wives & husbands from the people of the lands they were in, which is exactly what God told them not to do. When ezra got word of it, he nearly lost it!!! He tore his clothes and was in such anguish. Ezra was a devoted man of God, & he wasn't a part of it, but yet we see him in such pain over it. So many times we see people sinning, especially those around us, and/or in our congregations, and we adopt a "that's his/her problem" attitude. A lot of times we seem compassionate, but that only lasts for a little while, then we go right back to living our lives like nothing happened. We have all fallen to it, myself included, but why aren't we like ezra, who felt so much hurt, because of the downfall of his fellow nation? Its like it has become so common place to only worry about ourselves, and I'll even extend that to our close loved ones...but what about that girl you see time & time again selling her goods to men at the price of their attention, instead of selling her soul to Christ for redemption? What about that dude we see all the time looking for a way out, turning to the fast life for refuge, instead of finding refuge in God, the true creator & source of joy...how far has this world really fallen from where it should be? I couldn't even begin to measure it if I had every meter stick on the globe...