Look....
Jeremiah 5:1-2 "Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem,
look around and consider,
search through her squares.
If you can find but one person
who deals honestly and seeks the truth,
I will forgive this city.
[2] Although they say, 'As surely as the Lord lives,'
still they are swearing falsely."
A friend of mine, who wasn’t a Christian, once gave the most painful critique of Church I have ever heard.
She knew lots of Christians, came to Alpha courses several times, came to church a nearly every week, but she didn’t seem about to commit her life to serving Jesus. I asked her why one night.
“It’s the people. They all seem so smug and self-satisfied with what they’ve got – the feeling that they are going to heaven, are going to be alright. Yet they don’t seem overly concerned with those who aren’t. If what Christians believed was true, then they would scream it from the rooftops and grab everybody they came across on the streets and tell them….” It was an answer that left me numb.
What if there was just one person out there who would hear and respond to the truth? Would we invest all the time and energy that was required into reaching them? Maybe that is what God is driving at here in his dialogue with Jeremiah. God’s forgiveness is open to all. We cannot ever risk withholding it from anyone because we were lazy, or smug, or indifferent. Because as Jeremiah ahs already explained to us, God’s judgement on those who rebel and sin and stay apart from God will be terrible. Maybe all of us who are Christians need to come before the Father again and ask him for a glimpse not just of Heaven, but for the sense of the pain we would feel if we were to risk eternity outside of his presence. Because then, maybe just then, we would discover a sense of urgency about pleading with our family and friends to discover a relationship with our loving Father God.
look around and consider,
search through her squares.
If you can find but one person
who deals honestly and seeks the truth,
I will forgive this city.
[2] Although they say, 'As surely as the Lord lives,'
still they are swearing falsely."
A friend of mine, who wasn’t a Christian, once gave the most painful critique of Church I have ever heard.
She knew lots of Christians, came to Alpha courses several times, came to church a nearly every week, but she didn’t seem about to commit her life to serving Jesus. I asked her why one night.
“It’s the people. They all seem so smug and self-satisfied with what they’ve got – the feeling that they are going to heaven, are going to be alright. Yet they don’t seem overly concerned with those who aren’t. If what Christians believed was true, then they would scream it from the rooftops and grab everybody they came across on the streets and tell them….” It was an answer that left me numb.
What if there was just one person out there who would hear and respond to the truth? Would we invest all the time and energy that was required into reaching them? Maybe that is what God is driving at here in his dialogue with Jeremiah. God’s forgiveness is open to all. We cannot ever risk withholding it from anyone because we were lazy, or smug, or indifferent. Because as Jeremiah ahs already explained to us, God’s judgement on those who rebel and sin and stay apart from God will be terrible. Maybe all of us who are Christians need to come before the Father again and ask him for a glimpse not just of Heaven, but for the sense of the pain we would feel if we were to risk eternity outside of his presence. Because then, maybe just then, we would discover a sense of urgency about pleading with our family and friends to discover a relationship with our loving Father God.
posted by Gordon at
9:44 am
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