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Stephen’s
Devotions Vol. 1 No. 3 “No
One is Upright” Jeremiah 5 This
passage refers to the city of Jerusalem being corrupt; however, this can be
easily commentated as a person who is quote “corrupt.” This city is a lot
like us Christians in our lifestyle. If
you have your bible please follow along: Verses
1-5 - God says
there is not one person corrupt, compared to our lifestyle; everything we do
is somehow corrupt unless it is for God. - “They”
say the Lord lives, however, is says “and still they swear falsely.” We as
Christians often times know God is all around us we just don’t ever include
Him in any of our activities. 2 Timothy 3:5, “Godliness is present; you just
deny its power.” - “You
struck them but they felt no pain.” God a lot of times will attempt to get
our attention, but we are to focused on other things to notice, or we would
rather do something else then to “be still and listen,” even if this choice
is made subconsciously. This often times is a clue that your priorities are a
little off. Sometimes people ask us what’s most important in our life and we
immediately respond “God!” or “my relationship with Christ.” Yes, correct
response, however, the catch 22 here is many times we say what we do not act.
God might give you the perfect opportunity to witness to this atheist who
sites next to you in class, but you would rather stare at this really good
looking girl you’ve been trying to get enough guts up to ask out. Many times
we don’t realize where God is in our lives until we finally “fall” in our
spiritual lives and we have to place God back in our lives. This fall is
often caused by that letting God slip away syndrome. Always, especially in
the mornings during quiet time, keep up with where God is in your life. - “They are
foolish” A fool is one who is ignorant and how Solomon describes it as one
who seeks pleasure. We could assure that these people did not know where God
was in there life so they continued to seek what was pleasing to them. A
Christian usually has to hit rock bottom at least once, before he/she is able
to always know they are within the “center of God’s will.” The next part of
this passage says “they do not know the requirements of their God.” This can
be taken as, yes, they want to be in communion with God, however, they do not
know what it is going to require to keep the right relationship with God. In
this scenario the people will just continue to slide further and further from
God. Verses
6-10 - v. 6 –
God often has to use a method of punishment to gain our attention. - Just
because God continues to bless you doesn’t mean you are living righteously. - Yet again
as many of us can attest to, the only things mentioned in this passage that
is messing these people up and leading them astray have to do with sex.
Generally, at least with guys, our biggest downfalls are derived from an
intense longing for “love” and “affection.” All in all it’s a disguised sex
drive, cloaked by the fact that we cannot have sex until marriage. Sexual
immorality is most definitely the hardest temptation to defeat, only because
it never stops. It is always around you, people, TV, society, porn,
conversations, not to mention the constantly annoying recall of immoral
things within your mind. IT NEVER STOPS…GOO! All the more reason we should
keep our “eyes” on Jesus always. - God will
take action upon all of our deeds good or bad. Verses
11-15 - Many
times people will get the attitude that “oh, God won’t do anything to me.”
But if God does nothing people will just continue in their humanistic ways.
God loves us, and wants to do whatever it takes to get you to come back to
Him. Nothing is ever out of hatred, even though He might do bad things, it’s
all out of love. We as people should always bring out the good in things, not
the bad. Verses
16-20 - I think
here God is testing the limits of the Israeli nation and will stretch the
limits of their faith. These people have tough times in the future and it’s
all in how we as people handle these trials and tests that really show what
kind of a Christian we are and just how far our faith will go. - The last
part of this scripture is a great example of “you reap what you sow.” God has
stated that they have served foreign gods and now they will serve foreign
people, and will not receive freedoms. |