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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“Go up and down the streets of
Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can
find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this
city. Although they say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ still they are swearing
falsely.”
Lord, do not Your eyes look for
truth?
Jeremiah
5:1-3a
This ends today’s reading from God's holy
word. Thanks be to God.
Do you consider yourself to be an honest person?
You may want to pause for a moment and think about the
question before you answer it.
I say this because there isn’t a person living who has ever
been perfectly honest. We may be honest most of the time or some of the time
but we cannot say we are honest all of the time.
As we look our scripture passage today, we find that the
same problem existed well over 2,000 years ago in Old Testament Israel and in
this case, Jerusalem. In fact, the problem was so pervasive that the Lord
actually put out the following challenge:
“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look
around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person
who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.”
What is the Lord issued that challenge to you today in the
place where you live? Could you find one person who has fully dealt with
everyone honestly and always seeks the truth?
I think you can see where Jerusalem was in big trouble because
the Lord is always looking for truth and the problem we all face is that He can
see deep into our hearts and minds. You may be able to deceive another person
but you will never be able to deceive the Lord. Ever.
Note as well here that even though the people of God knew
He could see their most innermost thoughts and attitudes, still they would try
to get over on others in the midst of their dishonesty by saying, “As surely as
the Lord lives”. You may have heard a different variation on this used in
modern times, a person saying something like “I swear to God” to attempt to
underscore the validity in what they have just said.
Friends, honesty and integrity are two of God’s greatest
expectations for His people. Frequently, we fall short of His desires and fall
into dishonest dealings with other. We even are foolish enough to lie to God
about things in our lives, such as when we repent and express a commitment to
not repeat our sins only to go back on our word and sin again in the same way.
In the end translation, we cannot hope to be honest on our
own. We’re just too weak and flawed in our humanity. This is why we need to
literally live like Jesus lived in every moment that God gives us. For when we
do, and only when we do, can we expect to live fully immersed in the
righteousness that God favors and desires, a righteousness that pushed aside
deception and replaces it with truth.
Through Jesus, we do have a chance to truly be an honest
people.
Amen.
In
Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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