WHAT SOURCE ARE YOU DRAWING FROM?

The prophet Jeremiah’s call of God  was to challenge the people of God to a spiritual awakening. He was preaching to the people and teaching them about exemplifying faithfulness to God in times of difficulty as well as the good times they had previously encountered. As with many other times, the days of Jeremiah were very difficult and trying times to live in. They felt threatened by their neighboring enemies, just as we do by some, in our own day and time. They also were experiencing some economic hard times. Their way of life was being threatened, which made them feel vulnerable. Politically, things were unstable and volatile just as they are in our current day and times. As it was then and is today, Jeremiah was certain that people needed to be reminded of the truth. God’s people was starving for that truth and needed to hear in plain and understandable language, what God had to say about how they were living.

In chapter 17:5-10  Jeremiah offers a sobering commentary concerning the two different ways of life, or should I say, a contrast of lifestyles as the godly lifestyle is contrasted with the ungodly way of life. The last two verses of this extraordinary passage is most poignant and says, that… man’s heart is more deceitful than anything else and desperately sick…who can understand it? The human heart is so sinful that Jeremiah is forced to call it "desperately deceitful or wicked." He chooses to describes it in such unhealthy terms by saying that it is sick. We may not be comfortable with being called, desperately deceitful and sick, but that is what the scriptures say that the basic human heart condition, is. Ever human, whether they realize it or not, suffers from a terminal spiritual disease called sin, that is consuming their very lives and soul. This sinful condition gives us heart trouble in which we become deathly spiritually sick; until we receive that which will cure it. Our hope lies in one thing: the power of God to change our sinful condition into a renewed or redeemed condition. Only God in Christ can accomplish that feat. We cannot do that by ourselves, and we are foolish when we try. Yet, so many often attempt to do it by themselves and when they try in the end always leads to destruction. Jeremiah calls this "the cursed life." However, God desires to change that which we cannot do for ourselves and offers another alternative. He offers a life changing gift. And the life changed by the power of God is called "the blessed life."

Jeremiah describes the cursed life as one which "...turns his heart from the Lord." Oh how tragic a that situation is. Turning your heart from God is like a drowning person, turning away from a life preserver or a life guard reaching out to save someone who is sinking and they refuse his help. It is the picture of shear foolishness and sadness on their part. The rich young ruler in Mark 10:17-24 is described as making that kind of decision. He was saddened and grieved at the words of Jesus as he turned his heart away from the Lord by being unwilling to do it God’s way, to save his soul. He chose the world and lost his soul. The blessed life is one which is planted in the Lord. If your life is rooted in this present life, you will never experience “the blessed life” that the scripture talks about. The blessed life is one that chooses to plant itself on fertile ground near a river which draws their existence from the sources that gives it life. If planted in the right place, the roots will grow deep and long and by attaching themselves to the right source will protect themselves from the destructive elements in life. The scripture notes that by doing so, they will bear fruit even in times of drought as well as bounty. The reason is because their root-base is connected to the proper source and that Source never runs dry. What source are you drawing from today sweet friend? The young ruler in the New Testament wanted what the world had to offer him more than planting himself in the soil that Christ was offering him. In his heart as he walked away, one can only imagine the sadness he felt. There is no doubt that his sadness was from knowing that he was making the wrong choice, yet he opted to keep his worldly goods as long as he could. Yet in the end, while he kept his worldly possessions for a time, he lost his soul. Today if that young man could talk, he would tell you and I that he wishes that he would not have loved things more than he loved God! What is God asking of you today? Will you give it to Him?

Loving You Today,

Bren