Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 26-27.

I was struck by the similarity between what happened in this passage and what happens all too often today.

• Jeremiah: “If you don’t listen to the prophets God sends and do the right thing, this nation will be destroyed.”
• The people to whom he was prophesying: “How dare you say that this nation will be destroyed, you should be executed.”

Notice that Jeremiah did NOT say, “This nation will be destroyed.”  Instead, he said, “If you do not change your ways this nation will be destroyed.”  The people refused to consider changing their ways, instead they blamed Jeremiah for telling them that their actions would lead to their destruction.  In the same way today, many people will call Christians hateful for telling them that what they are doing is self-destructive.  It is also important that we not be hateful, that we not tell people that because they have sinned they are doomed. (I was going to start that sentence with “Of course”, but I realized that all too many people needed to be told this for it to be “of course”.)  God calls on us to give up our sinful, destructive (of ourselves, and, all too often, of others) behaviors.

You may be called on, as Jeremiah was, to call others to change their ways, but make sure you have examined your own life and begun allowing God to change those of your ways of which He does not approve.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.