I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
Jeremiah condemns those who claim to teach God’s word, but twist it and change it into lies rather than the message that God has given. Jeremiah tells of the judgement God is bringing on a people who are thoroughly dishonest and filled with lies, a people who refuse to acknowledge God. Jeremiah was speaking of the people of Judah, but his prophecies apply equally well to people today who do the same. God will bring judgement on such people. We should not boast of our wisdom, or our power, or our wealth. We should boast only that we know the Lord and understand His unfailing love and justice. The day is coming when God will bring judgement and punishment on those peoples who are circumcised in body, but not in spirit. Jeremiah lists the people he means, “Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, the people who live in the desert in remote places.” Today these people are for the most part Muslims (and Muslims perform circumcision). Then he adds, “and yes, even the people of Judah.” He tells us that even those these people, including the Jews, practice circumcision of the body, they all have uncircumcised hearts. Do we have uncircumcised hearts? Or have we allowed Christ to cut off the “foreskin” of our sinful nature and transform us into His image?
We have been raised to a new life with Christ. This means that we should set our eyes on heavenly things. We need to put to death the earthly, sinful things within us. Paul gives us a list of the things we should put to death. We should have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. These are all related and are a challenge to overcome. Especially in our society today, which teaches that such things are human nature and unavoidable. They are not unavoidable. We do not have to let our sexual nature control our lives.
The Church today struggles hard against society on this issue. There are many Christians who make the point that our sexual nature does not have to be who we are…and should not be the be-all, end-all of our self-identification. Perhaps the reason that we so often fail to make a dent in society’s self-absorption with sexual sins is because we do not put enough focus on putting to death the other sins Paul talks about. Paul tells us that we should not be greedy, because greed is a form of idolatry. Those who are greedy pay more attention to material things than they do to God. But there is still more. We need to get rid of anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language. All too often we justify these things, “Oh, it’s his/her fault I am angry. He/She cut me off in traffic. My anger is justified.” Then we use that anger to justify slandering people and using foul language. But Paul does not tell us to get rid of unjustified anger. He tells us to get rid of anger.
Instead of sexual immorality, greed, anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language we are to clothe ourselves, fill ourselves, with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. If we do the latter, we will find it not only easier to avoid the former, we will find ourselves ashamed when we give in to the former. Especially if we follow Paul’s next piece of advice and above all clothe ourselves with love. We are to bear with one another and forgive anyone against whom we have a grievance. Note, this is not an instruction to forgive those who are sorry for what they have done, this is an instruction to forgive those against whom we have a grievance. Period. Full Stop. No exceptions, no special cases. Everyone against whom we have a grievance.
Everything we do, we are to do in the name of Jesus. We are to remember that we are Christ’s representatives in this world. What people know about Him is what they learn from watching us. Every action we take, every word we speak is to be done or spoken as a representative of Christ. Our actions and words are supposed to be like those of an ambassador in a foreign court. We have been given authority to speak and act in this world in a particular fashion. All of our words and actions should be within that guidance. I often fail at this. I am a terrible ambassador for Christ, but I will strive to do better in the future through the power of His Holy Spirit (the only way that I can hope to do so).
The psalmist tells us that despite the many wonderful things God did for the people of Israel they refused to trust Him. Only when He brought judgement against them did they turn back to Him. But even then their allegiance to God was only half-hearted. How often are we the same? How often do we turn to God in times of trouble, only to go our own way again when the trouble has passed? I will strive to dedicate myself to God with my whole heart, not just the part that’s convenient.
Plan what you are going to do around it before you build a building. If you build first, you may discover that you faced the building the wrong way, or you did not leave enough space to one side or the other for something you wanted to do.