Fault....

Jeremiah 3:1-5 "If a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him and marries another man,
should he return to her again?
Would not the land be completely defiled?
But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers—
would you now return to me?"
declares the Lord.
[2] "Look up to the barren heights and see.
Is there any place where you have not been ravished?
By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers,
sat like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land
with your prostitution and wickedness.
[3] Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and no spring rains have fallen.
Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;
you refuse to blush with shame.
[4] Have you not just called to me:
'My Father, my friend from my youth,
[5] will you always be angry?
Will your wrath continue for ever?'
This is how you talk,
but you do all the evil you can."

It isn’t so much what the Jews have done, as the attitude of their hearts that is angering the Lord. He forgives us our sins, the Bible makes that clear, if we repent of them and turn back to him. This has been the problem for the Jews – not just that they have continually sinned and rebelled against God, but that their attitude has been one of “so what?” They have refused to accept responsibility for what they have done, and by denying responsibility they are refusing to change.

At the heart of the Gospel is change. It is about our lives being transformed to mirror Jesus. It is a day to day process with most of us finding something in our lives that we need to change everyday. We cannot find something that is wrong and then go into denial about it. Think about the frustration you feel when you encounter a person who won’t admit fault, or change a destructive habit. That is the same frustration that God feels when we won’t change, won’t admit to fault, and won’t admit that we need to submit to him.