May the mumbling commence!
The only true safety we can claim is if we walk in the
Way of the Lord. Just going through the
motions and mouthing the words is NOT enough.
God is our only refuge. Go to the
Lord and no other.
Purge the idols from our midst! Do not worship money or what it can buy. Do not worship fame. Do not worship knowledge. All these and many more pale in comparison to
the Almighty living God. Read from
Jeremiah chapter seven:
The Lord
gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, "Go to the entrance of the Lord's Temple, and give this message to
the people: 'O Judah, listen to this
message from the Lord!
Listen to it, all of you who worship here! The Lord
Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Even now, if
you quit your evil ways, I will let you stay in your own land. But do not be fooled by those who repeatedly promise your
safety because the Temple of the Lord
is here. I will be merciful only if you stop your wicked thoughts and deeds and are
fair to others; and if you stop
exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; and if you stop your murdering; and
if you stop worshiping idols as you now do to your own harm. Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave
to your ancestors to keep forever.
Do you think that because the Temple is here
you will never suffer? Don't fool
yourselves! Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and worship Baal and all those
other new gods of yours, and then come here and stand before me in my Temple
and chant, "We are safe!" – only to go right back to all those evils again? Do you think this Temple, which honors my
name, is a den of thieves? I see all
the evil going on there,
says the Lord.
Go
to the place at Shiloh where I once put the Tabernacle to honor my name. See
what I did there because of all the wickedness of my people, the Israelites. While you were
doing these wicked things, says the Lord,
I spoke to you
about it repeatedly, but you would not
listen. I called out to you, but
you refused to answer.
So
just as I destroyed Shiloh, I will now destroy this Temple that was built to honor
my name, this Temple that you trust for help, this place that I gave to you
and your ancestors. And I will send you into exile, just as I did your
relatives, the people of Israel.'” (Verses 1-15)
Worship of the Lord is more than just poetic prayers and
hymns. Worship means taking time to
build relationship with the Lord. That
means listening. How often do we make
space in our worship services to listen?
How comfortable are we with silence?
God is speaking to us about our sins.
Are we willing to listen? It’s
bitter medicine, but the alternative is much, much worse.
So let’s be careful where we store up our
treasures. Read from Matthew chapter
six:
"Don't store up treasures here on earth, where they can be eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from
thieves. Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be.” (Verses 19-21)
Treasuring the things of God leads to caring for the
vulnerable. It eliminates the evil that
Jeremiah spoke about so long ago. Though
the names of the idols may change, their effect is the same. Let’s be careful where we put our hearts and
thoughts. Let’s keep them safe in the
Lord.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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