Sunday, August 9, 1998 This Week’s Lesson:
In this week’s lesson, which came from Jeremiah 7:1-15, we learned about the importance of experiencing real security through genuine, life-changing worship with God. Jeremiah was the prophet who had been called by the Lord to preach to the people in Judah. Through years of spiritual and moral decline, these people had begun to depend upon their own ungodly sources for their spiritual well-being. They had put prophets over themselves who prophesied lies, and they had allowed themselves to be led by priests who preached messages which were based upon their own authority. When people do not follow the teachings and principles of the Bible, they usually open themselves up for just about any kind of difficulty, deception, and decline. In the case of these people, they had put their confidence and hope in the apparently non-destructability of the temple, plus in their own assortment of religious rituals. They had raised up their own idols to worship, so in this passage, Jeremiah was preaching that they should repent and seek the Lord first. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Matthew 22:37-39 teach that we are to love God supremely and that we are to seek Him with all heart, soul, mind, and might.
Jeremiah preached about the importance of not being deceived by our own misconceptions about spiritual things. The people of Judah believed that their temple was their link to the Lord, and they thought they could please a holy God by playing religious games. They were very wrong, yet Twentieth Century Christians often make the identical mistake. Many times, we think that perfect church attendance is next to godliness and that pitching our pennies in the collection plate wins us favor with our Savior and Lord. However, these are not really the things which our heavenly Father seek from us. What He really wants is encompassed in the above verses from Deuteronomy and Matthew. Our Lord does not even want us to focus solely on living right and doing the right things. If He did, then many who do not even know Him as Savior would squeeze under His line of acceptability. What the Lord wanted from the people of Judah is what He wants from us. He wants our love. He wants us to love Him supremely and then to love our neighbors as ourselves. When we do these things, then we will naturally live right and try to do those things which bring Him joy.
True Christian living is often hampered because we get the cart before the horse. We try to do the right things before we have the right heart. As you go through the coming week, do your best to get things in the right order. Focus on the God Who loved you enough to send His only begotten Son to live and die for you on the cross at Calvary. Accept the forgiveness which He freely gives, and then love Him and your neighbors as you should. When these things are done in their right order, then your life will bring honor and glory to your God and heavenly Father.
Tom of Spotswood"He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." (I John 5:12)
"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)
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