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From
the Pastor’s Heart…. JEREMIAH |
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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