Jeremiah 7:8-10 - "'Do you think that because the Temple is
here you will never suffer? Don't fool yourselves! Do you really think you can
steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and worship Baal and all those other new
gods of yours, and then come here and
stand before me in my Temple and chant, "We are safe!" -- only to go
right back to all those evils again?
God sent Jeremiah right to the door of the temple. He was to deliver these words to all who came
close enough to hear them. God was tired of the hypocrisy that crossed the
threshold of the Temple each day. God
was not going to tolerate it anymore.
The only thing that would save them was to repent of all
those things ….to ask God to forgive them….and stop doing them. Then and only
then would God remain attentive to their needs…and listen to any more of their
prayers.
Did you skim through the list…or really read it? Did you
find the thing or things that God needs you to confess and stop…or simply say
to yourself you haven’t done any of those things? Perhaps I have never
personally murdered someone…or stolen an object from anyone…but I found myself
stretching my concept of the actions in this list…just to be sure that I had
repented of any of the ones I had violated….just to be sure I had not been
fooled into thinking some of my actions were okay.
Stealing is defined by taking anything that does not belong
to us…without paying the set price. Even
taking a few extra packets of sugar or creamer from that favorite coffee place
without asking first might be seen by God as stealing. Supporting clinics that abort babies…or giving
money to research that uses petri dish conceived embryos to harvest stem cells….might
be murderous. A study done at the
University of Chicago in 1992 reported that out of 3,432 adults born from
1933-1974…1/4 of the men and 1/6 of the women admitted having adultery….at
least once. And I dare you to find one person around you that hasn’t told at
least one lie…or found their happiness in something other than God.
Let’s go one more step in our reflection of guilt or innocence…just
to make sure that we haven’t begun to grow a shell of hypocrisy around the
heart that God worked so hard to expose for us. He told a few religious leaders
in Matthew 9:4…. “Knowing their
thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?”
Those words were for us too.
I admit my guilt. The rage that slips out of me in a moment
of great frustration…left unchecked could lead to a really evil thought that
might include worse. Justifying one sugar packet might hide our eyes to the
wrong in taking it…so we can justify bigger things later on. Thinking impure thoughts at all could give us
the courage to carry them through. That little white lie could become the next
major cover up to keep people from seeing the truth. And I will always have to
guard my heart from the dangers of using the resources God gave me to shop for
myself…just to fill time…just to have nice things….so it doesn’t spiral into a
way for satan to take my focus off God.
Father…thank you for the reminder that I need to constantly
evaluate my life for the smallest things that might be violations …even the
thoughts of violating this list of evils that Jeremiah gave us. Forgive me for
all the ones I have broken...and reveal even the smallest of things that might eventually
separate me from you. Give me
discernment and wisdom to know how to send satan packing with the lies he tries
to slip into my heart that tell me any thought is good…that you have already
told is not. Amen.
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