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  As I’m reading through the book of Jeremiah, I’m not finding it to be one of the most encouraging books of the Bible. That’s alright though, because I’m getting a fresh picture of some of the attributes of God and the struggles that must have plagued Jeremiah as a prophet and a priest.

Jeremiah was called by God to warn the Israelites to change their ways or face the consequences of their actions. I am sure he was torn as he predicted the difficulties that would come upon his own people if they didn’t change. Jeremiah worked hard and preached hard and yet people refused to repent. In fact, his own people really didn’t want to hear him or believe him and so, as was often the case, the prophet suffered at the hands of those he was trying to help.

Jeremiah experienced his life being threatened, he was publicly shamed, thrown into a pit and he had to flee for his life. He wasn’t very well liked at times. He was, however, faithful to do what God had called him to do and that was to speak words of warning to the Israelites. He did that faithfully for somewhere near 50 years.

I say all this to point to some of the same inner turmoil that we also face as we reach out to others with the gospel message. We desire to reach out with a message of hope and invitation so that others can also experience a changed life in Jesus. In reality, most people we encounter reject following Jesus and choose instead to live their life by their own rules hoping to get to heaven. There must, however, be a time to warn people as Jeremiah did. There comes a time in a relationship where we gently share the fate of those who reject Christ. This kind of talk is seen as uncompromising and very threatening to people and especially those of other religions. How do we live in a culture that calls us to be tolerant, yet hold to our faith according to the scripture of the Bible? Surely we have a challenge on our hands.

There is no mistake that we certainly have a message to share, and we need to work at building bridges to other people. That doesn’t mean that we compromise halfway with our faith. It means that we may be called to change some things that will not compromise our convictions but it may allow people to better hear the gospel message. Maybe our message will go unheeded by most, I don’t know. I do know that Jesus told His disciples a long time ago, “The harvest is truly plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38 NKJV)

In the same way that God had a message for the people through Jeremiah, He has a message for the people through us. Let’s not grow weary in our life as we continue to tell others what Jesus does in our lives.

Be bold; Be strong; Be filled with wisdom; Be led by the Holy Spirit… go to the neighbors.

Your pastor, Tim

For questions or comments you may email the pastor at timbev2@yahoo.com or the webmaster at hffinc@i-c.net