No Take Backs

Jeremiah 34:15-16 - Recently you repented and did what was right, following my command. You freed your slaves and made a solemn covenant with me in my Temple. But now you have shrugged off your oath and defiled my name by taking back the men and women you had freed, making them slaves once again."

 

The king had finally got it…and took Jeremiah seriously.  The city was under attack…they saw no other way to save themselves but give in and obey God. And God rewarded their obedience by lessening the pressure they felt by the war with Babylon. They became so confident in themselves again that they took back their word and began to disobey God again.

 

The problem was that their change of heart was just a surface feeling.   It was a move of the heart just to ease their situation.  It did not change the core of what they believed…. it just scared them enough to make a concession for a short while.  In the Temple they were all…I’m sorry and I will change…but at home and at work they did what they wanted.

 

The changes that God wants to make in us have to be permanent. We can’t let the reward of good times in our lives allow us to think that we can live the way we used too.  The altars we make promises to God on our knees are not to be left at the church.  God wants those promises to become permanent parts of our lives that change our behavior everywhere we go…..every day of our lives….forever.

 

Father…thank you for reminding me that my commitment to you was forever. Forgive me for the times I have let the goodness of life tempt me to let my promises to you slip in importance.  Help me to wake each morning with a sense of how everything I am is because you saved me….and let that love keep me more in tune with what you need me to do for you that day.  Amen.