For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
Those who show favoritism when they pass judgment are wrong. If a teacher punishes one child for actions that he lets another child get away with is making a mistake. A judge who declares that the guilty are innocent and sets them free brings harm to society.
When your problems seem overwhelming and God does not seem to answer your prayers, look back over your life and remember what He has done in the past. And not just what He has done in your life, but what He has done throughout history. When you look at the wonderful and mighty deeds which God has already done, you will realize that solving your problems is but a small thing for Him. Further, you will see that He does not act until the time is right. Do not focus on your own troubles, rather, focus on God’s mighty acts in the past. You will soon realize that God’s love is never ending, His promises never fail.
God chose to reconcile all people and all things to Himself through Christ’s death. This includes you, no matter how far away from God you were (or are). He brings us into His presence making us holy and blameless as we stand before Him. It is God’s action which makes us without fault as we stand before Him. Whenever I read this I wonder if Paul is saying that God makes us holy and blameless despite our actions, or if he is saying that God transforms our actions so that our actions are holy and blameless. The more times I think about this the more I come to believe that Paul’s message is a little bit of both: God makes us holy and blameless despite our actions AND by doing so He transforms our actions so that our actions become holy and blameless. However, as Paul said in his letter to the Philippians, I am not saying that God has completed this process, or even that He will complete this process in any one of us while we yet live. This transformation is a lifelong process. I have observed that those who seem to be the closest to being completely transformed seem to be the ones who are most aware of how far they fall short of God’s holiness. Let us work to allow the Holy Spirit to transform us ever more closely into the likeness of Christ.
I am struck by several different things in this passage. Jeremiah felt deep pain for the suffering he foresaw coming upon the people of Judah. He did not confront them about their sins because he hated them. No, he confronted them because he hoped that they might turn from their sins and avoid the suffering.
Jeremiah tells us that God searched for an honest person among the people of Judah, but did not find one (I would like to note that I believe that Jeremiah was intentionally using hyperbole here and was not actually telling us that no one in Jerusalem was honest…after all Jeremiah was in Jerusalem at the time). Jeremiah first looked among the common people and did not find any who were honest. His first reaction was to say, “Well, they are ignorant and untrained. They do not know any better.” So, next he looked among the elites, among the leaders of the people. Even there he found none who were honest. The elites and the leaders refused to be bound by God’s commands. I believe the message here for us is that someone must choose honesty. If the common people are greedy, selfish, and sinful, we should expect their leaders to be the same. On the other hand, if the elites, the ones from whom the leaders are drawn, are greedy, selfish, and sinful then we should expect that the common people will be as well. No matter what part of society you find yourself in, if you want others to be honest and upright, you must choose to be honest and upright. Let us choose to be honest and upright and call on those around us to be likewise.
