I hear it a lot, actually.
“I can’t help it - this is just the way I am!”
God help us if we use The Father to excuse irrational behavior.
“God made me this way!”
And we justify it often by cute Pinterest quotes relating to a self-love movement that is damaging souls and we don’t even realize it.
Jeremiah tells us that this suffering prophet… the one God would call to be a, “Tester of Metals” (6:27)… was appointed to a stubborn and rebellious nation.
Verse 28 describes these people (in God’s words), “They are the worst kind of rebel, full of slander… and they lead others into corruption.”
Take a look at the word slander. By simple definition it means this = “oral utterance of defamation; to utter or to circulate defamation.”
There seems to be this significance in the spoken word of it all. An “utterance” or improper, uncontrolled, unrestrained speech. Some versions call these people, “stubborn talebearers”, and one biblical definition defines them as, “scandal-mongers.”
And God calls them, “the worst kind of rebels.”
Ouch.
It would seem as though the enemy was working hard against these… the ones called by God to be His own children… His own worthy remnant saved by the power of the Almighty. And by their sinful actions and destructive words - they were wreaking havoc on themselves.
Jeremiah would give a message in the next chapter to these rebels begging them to, “not be fooled by those who promise safety because the Lord’s Temple” was among them. (7:4)
Though given freedom from sin, they were not at liberty to excuse wrongful living any longer.
It’s interesting how we behave when we see the potential for illness to invade our lives or our home.
A couple weeks ago a friend of mine was going to make a visit to our house for a couple days, but ended up messaging me that she hadn’t been feeling well the last few days. While she was certain it was, “just a cold”, we decided to play it safe and reschedule our visit.
You can’t be too cautious these days.
When we become aware of disease or sickness do we say, “Well… it’s just fate that it would run it’s course through me! I guess I will just get sick!”
No. Of course not.
At least I don’t.
We take care to keep the infection away from us.
We disinfect, and we distance ourselves from the effect of that intrusion.
By nature, we humans are inclined to sinfulness. Even Paul said, “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.” (Rom 7:15)
But we have the ability to condition ourselves against the schemes of the enemy.
We cannot, “be fooled by those who promise safety”, or make excuses that, “this is just how I am” - admitting my nature is simply uncontrollable.
You have the power of the resurrected Christ living inside you. (Rom 8:11)
You have far greater power than you realize!
“Resist the devil and he will flee from you” is what James tells us! (James 4:7)
But the command goes on... and it just might be the part that our flesh wants to forget, “Come close to God and He will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.” (4:8)
We CAN help it.
And we must.
While we may not have the power to prevent an enemy attack, we do have the power to forbid its evil intention. The same way we have the power to create distance from the damaging capability of the infectious disease.
When we know and feel the evil in the physical world, we must take every precaution against its effects and its recurrence.
No comments:
Post a Comment