What or Who Do You Stand For?

Scripture:
25 Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God: You eat flesh with the blood and lift up your eyes to your idols and l shed blood; shall you then possess the land? 26 You rely on the sword, you commit abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor's wife; shall you then possess the land?
Ezekiel 33:25-26 (ESV)
25-26 "So tell them, 'God the Master says, You eat flesh that contains blood, you worship no-god idols, you murder at will—and you expect to own this land? You rely on the sword, you engage in obscenities, you indulge in sex at random—anyone, anytime. And you still expect to own this land?'
Ezekiel 33:25-26 (The Message)
Observation:
The Lord is explaining, through Ezekiel, the reasons why Israel is being evicted from their promised land. He is telling them why they will no longer possess the land.
Listed among their trespasses is the fact that they trust in their swords, in other words in their own weaponry or in their own strength. This is listed in amongst the likes of murder, adultery, and idolatry.
Application:
In my teenage years pastors, gangsters, hustlers, pimps, and revolutionaries raised me. My worldview was shaped by paradoxical dualisms. The one common factor that was weaved through all my lessons learned was the need to stand for something. Every teacher related to the infamous saying, “If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.” The pastors taught me to stand for Jesus, although the definition of that would change depending on what pastor you asked. The gangsters taught me to stand for your peoples. The hustlers and pimps taught me to stand for the dollar. The revolutionaries taught me to stand for your ideals. As you can see the very notion of what each teacher stood for placed my upbringing in the midst of an unsolvable conundrum.
Sadly each teacher trusted in their own might to achieve their desired goals and outcomes. So the one thing that has been engrained into to me since I was young is the need to persevere by the strength of my own hand.
The blunt truth, that this passage communicates, is that placing your trust in anything other than God is a sin. For a very long time I was guilty of this sin, and even now I fall prey to its tenacious snares periodically.
This has been one of the hardest things from my past to overcome, and it is the nature of the vice that makes it so seductive. It is only by trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit that we can see sanctification take place in our lives. Trusting in our own strength is the antonym of that. The challenge is exasperating, but maybe that is the point, because that leads to a place where I have no choice but to trust in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer:
Lord, teach me to place my trust in you alone. Give me the strength to trust you and forsake myself. Amen…