ARE YOU MOVING FORWARD OR BACKWARD?

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their ancestors.”

Jeremiah 7:24-26

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

It has been said that we are either busy living or we are busy dying in life. There is no real middle ground.

The saying does have merit to it because life is really about choices and the choices we make either allow us to advance and improve in some way or cause us to recede or decline.

Thus another way to say this is that we are either moving forward or backward and it applies as much to our spiritual life as it does our physical one. We know this because God tells us as much as we discover in today’s passage from Jeremiah 7. Look again at His words here:

“But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their ancestors.”  Jeremiah 7:24-26

Note here that the people of God were moving in the wrong direction and we know that direction was backward. And just in case we weren’t sure what indicators led Him to that assessment, He let us know. Here are those signs that the Israelites were going the wrong way and regressing in the way they were living and in their relationship with God:

1. They did not listen to God.

God was consistently and persistently trying to speak to His people, either directly or through any number of messengers such as prophets. Unfortunately, His people tuned Him out, closing their ears to Him while choosing to listen to the things they desired to listen to.

2. They did not pay attention to God.

You might think it’s hard to ignore God and you would be right. And yet it’s obvious the people of God managed to do just that. How did they do it? They turned their worship and devotion to other gods and idols. In other words, their interest and attention was given to everything but God.

3. They stubbornly followed the sinful inclinations of their hearts.

When our desires become more of a priority than God’s, then we are choosing selfishness and self centeredness over righteousness and more often than not, that leads us to sin and evil actions which in turn move us away rather than closer to God. In the case of the Old Testament Israelites in Jeremiah’s time, they had been more wicked than their ancestors and so there was little surprise that God’s judgment would be coming and in a big way.

Not listening to God. Not paying attention to God. Stiff necked and stubborn in following the sinful inclinations of the heart.

All these were indicators that the people of God were going the wrong way, moving backward and not forward.

So how would you grade out if God measured you against these standards today?

Would He find you failing to listen to Him?

Would He be able to accuse you of ignoring Him and not paying attention?

Would He find you guilty of placing the desires of your heart, desires that often lead you to sin, ahead of His desires for your life?

Of course, all this would lead to the answer to one final question:

Are you spiritually moving forward or backward?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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