Godly or Ungodly Life

Godly or Ungodly Life

Meditation from Esther Chapter 1

Book of Esther is special to Indians, for our country's name is mentioned in this book. This book is also a testament to the fact that Bible celebrates not just deeds of men, but women.

The first chapter teaches us how not to live or lead our life (maybe that's the reason why the king's name has two 'X', a mark commonly used to strike off)! King Xerxes' problems were with 3Ws - Wealth, Wine and Woman (which is applicable until this day in the lives of many).

1. Display of Pride: In his banquet, King Xerxes showed off his wealth, splendour & pomp to people (1:4).

God is against the proud and gives more grace to the humble. The much learned & laboured Paul the Apostle says that he boasts only on the cross and counts himself as least of the apostles and as chief of sinners!

2. Desire of the Mind / Heart: To the drunk people, the king orders that they can do as they desire (1:8).

We are called to do not according to our desires but according to God's desire; to walk not according to the carnal desires of our mind & heart but according to the spiritual desires of the Spirit.

We need to disobey the desires of our heart (that are not pleasing to God) and make them obedient to Christ!

3. Display of Beauty: Xerxes wanted to show the beauty of his wife Queen Vashti to the people (1:11).

Today everyone of us have the opportunity to display ourselves to the world, because of social media. We need to be careful what we post or display through WhatsApp or Facebook or Instagram, etc. We need to check whether it glorifies God or defames His name.

We also need to be careful in what content (photos or text or video) we share about others.

4. Disrespect of Relationship: One another thing that we can observe is Xerxes taking his relationship with Vashti for granted and using her to gratify his desires, with no respect for her dignity.

When someone uses others to fulfil their desires, it's an ungodly relationship. In a godly relationship there is mutual respect.

5. Unwise or ungodly counsel: Xerxes did a good thing of seeking the counsel & consulted people for the issue (1:13).

It's not only important to seek counsel, it's more important to seek the right & godly counsel.

Wrong counsel will lead to wrong decisions.

6. Misusing or Misunderstanding Biblical Principles: The order was biblical in saying that man should be master in his own house (1:22). This was established in Genesis with Adam itself, by God.

But two major elements are missing.
One, unless Christ is the Head and then the man & the wife, the relationship will lack godly love and mutual submission. The man will fail to love his wife like Christ loves the church, by giving Himself and the wife will fail to be submissive to their husbands, as they submit to the Lord (Ephesians 5:22-24).

Two, we cannot use biblical principles to suit our selfish agendas, without submitting ourselves to the whole counsel of God's word.

May the Lord help us to apply these truths to our life that we may not walk in ungodly ways, but may live pleasing to God.

Have a blessed day!