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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.
This is what the Lord said to me:
“Go and buy a linen belt and put it
around your waist, but do not let it touch water.”
So I bought a belt, as the Lord
directed, and put it around my waist.
Then the word of the Lord came to
me a second time:
“Take the belt you bought and are
wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath and hide it there in a crevice
in the rocks.”
So I went and hid it at Perath, as
the Lord told me.
Many days later the Lord said to
me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.”
So I went to Perath and dug up the
belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined
and completely useless.
Then the word of the Lord came to
me:
“This is what the Lord says: ‘In
the same way, I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. These
wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of
their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like
this belt—completely useless! For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I
bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the
Lord, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not
listened.’”
Jeremiah 13:1-11
This ends today’s reading from God's holy
word. Thanks be to God.
Pride.
It can be one of the most dangerous emotions we have to
deal with and so it’s little wonder why the scriptures warn us about it over
and over again in an attempt to show us how very useless it is.
Now, many people would argue that pride is fine in many
instances. For example, when a person achieves or accomplishes something, we
often say we are proud of them.
Is that so wrong?
It depends on your perspective.
You see, pride can be insidious in nature.
The dangerous part of pride that is easily recognizable is
someone who displays absolute arrogance in the way they carry themselves. Their
life is all about themselves and they take credit for everything that happens,
even if credit should go to someone else.
But pride creeps in by a more sinister nature when we
extend it to others.
For example, if I say I am proud of someone for what they
have done, then I have placed the full credit for their success on them. The
credit for the action becomes inward and self-centered, the very problem at the
center of pride.
So what does the Bible have to say about pride?
Consider these verses in addition to our scripture passage
for today:
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 16:18
In his pride the
wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
Psalm 10:4
When pride comes,
then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Proverbs 11:2
Pride brings a
person low, but the lowly in spirit gain honor. Proverbs 29:23
The arrogance of man will be brought low
and human pride humbled. Isaiah
2:17
For everything in
the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 1 John 2:16
This is what the Lord said to me:
“Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let
it touch water.”
So I bought a belt, as the Lord directed, and put it around my waist.
Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time:
“Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now
to Perath and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.”
So I went and hid it at Perath, as the Lord told me.
Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt
I told you to hide there.”
So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place
where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.
Then the word of the Lord came to me:
“This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way, I will ruin the pride of
Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. These wicked people, who refuse to
listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after
other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely
useless! For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of
Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the Lord, ‘to be my people
for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.’” Jeremiah 13:1-11
As Jeremiah 13 opens, we find the Lord using an
illustration to highlight the sinful spiritual pride His people had adopted. He
tells his prophet to buy a linen belt and place it around his waist, being
careful not to get it wet. The Lord then tells Jeremiah to remove the belt and
hide it within a crevice in the rocks near Perath, a city of the tribe of
Benjamin, where it would remain many days before the Lord told Jeremiah to go
and retrieve it. When the prophet did go to get the belt, he found that it had
been rendered ruined and useless, a state that the Lord compared to where His
people would end up after He finished placing His judgment upon them.
So what was the illustration the Lord was trying to make?
The belt was akin to the pride of Judah and Jerusalem, a
spiritual pride that led the Israelites to turn away from God to pursue the
gods they wanted to follow. Everything was centered on their wants and desires
and away from what the Lord expected from them, and no matter how much He
warned them to turn from their sins, they continued in their stubborn
inclination toward wickedness. Thus, the people’s choice to violate God’s
commandments and worship gods apart from Him would render them useless in His
eyes.
Such is what happens when we choose to make life about
ourselves instead of about Him. It becomes more about our will and way and not
His.
This is what makes pride so useless and we would be well
served to step back and assess how we’re behaving in this regard within our own
lives because it seems to be an important matter of consideration to the Lord.
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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