At Ease in Zion
Amos 6:1–8
Woe to those who are at ease in Zion. Amos 6:1

Suppose you are a Christian who is at ease in Zion. What follows from the pride that has made you complacent? The first thing is that you become insensitive to the needs of others. You are at ease; others are not. Your needs are met; others lack many of life’s necessities. If you would, you could help many out of your resources. But you are not willing to do that because you think you deserve everything you have.

The second thing that happens is that you become irresponsible, not only in regard to the needy but also where your own family, neighbors, church, city, or government is concerned. There is work to be done, much work. But you have opted out because it is much easier to enjoy your abundance, isolated from the very real problems around you, than to sacrifice your ease for the good of others.

Third, the situation is dangerous, and you become oblivious to the danger. An old expression says, “Idle hands do the devil’s work.” It is in periods of idleness that we get into trouble.

Are you at ease in Zion? Have you said to yourself, I’ve done my bit for God and the church. It’s time to quit now. There are younger people who can do the work. Let them do it. I don’t have to do anything? If you are saying that, you are on the road to great trouble.

Wake up from such lethargy! Look about you! See the work that most needs to be done and get on with it! It is in such work that you will be most like the Lord Jesus Christ, your Master, who “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8). It is only people like that whom God honors.

I am applying these truths to Christians. But suppose you are not a Christian. Suppose you have rejected the one who died for your salvation. What shall we say of you? If the plight of the Christian is dangerous, what of your danger? If the Christian is irresponsible, are not you even more so? If he is insensitive, you are doubly insensitive, for you are insensitive not only to the needs of other people but also to your own. Jesus was talking about you when he said, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36). He meant that a person who has accumulated things but neglected his relationship to God is a fool because he has made a bad bargain. Wake up and turn to Jesus! To be at ease in Zion when your eternal destiny is not settled is the most foolish of all life’s follies, and the end is the greatest of tragedies.

Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865

Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.