Jer. 34, 37-38
Some things never change. Jeremiah was one of the few, if not the only one speaking God’s truth in Judah and Jerusalem. Because of it, men who did not want to listen to the truth sought to kill him. They accused him of being the one telling the lies. And so it is even today – those holding fast to goodness and truth are the ones accused of evil and lies by those who are actually committing the evil and telling the lies.
The way I see it, evil will always react harshly to truth, because evil wants to destroy truth. We, like Jeremiah, may suffer for standing firm with God, but we must never buy into the lie that evil will prevail. It may win in the short term, but we know its end. And trust me, we don’t want to be on the wrong side. Just as Jerusalem was taken and burned according to God’s word, so will all that stands against God someday be.
Even though Jeremiah suffered at the hands of his accusers, he remained faithful and obedient to God. And God protected him. In this, he practiced what he preached. He told King Zedekiah, “Obey now the voice of the LORD in what I say to you, and it shall be well with you, and your life shall be spared” (Jer 38:20b). As with Jeremiah and Zedekiah, God sometimes asks us to do hard things. Scary things. Things that others advise us not to do. But if we want it to go well with us, we must always be obedient to God above all else. While this isn’t at all a promise for an easy life, it is the way to live our best life and to hold to our eternal hope.
Heb. 10:1-18
The law is powerless to save. This means that we cannot, by our own efforts, save ourselves. Only God can forgive our sins. He did that by offering Christ as the perfect sacrifice, according to His will. Because Christ died and yet lives, we are made alive in Him. “For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Heb 10:14). Though we are still far from perfect in this time-bound life we live, it is so good – and so mind boggling – to know that, from God’s perspective, Christ has made us without sin.