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Jeremiah 7 (ESV)
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’
5 “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, 6 if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.
REFLECTION:
This passage describes God sending Jeremiah to the temple gate to correct people’s wrong thinking, because they mistakenly thought that God would not bring harm to the temple and the people living near the temple, regardless of their behaviour. Jeremiah made severe accusations against the false and empty beliefs and idolatry of the people. While the people continue to worship as usual, they live a life full of sins. This is a completely false religious belief. The attitudes of the Judahites looking at the temple in the past and some “Christians” looking at the church nowadays have a lot in common: they worship God solemnly in the church but act according to their own way once they stepped out of the church. They regard their appearance, image, and sense of belonging in the church to be more important than changing their lives for God. They think that being attached to a superficial religious ritual can avoid disasters. We should be wary of ourselves becoming such “Christians.” If we go to church meetings, partake communion, teach Sunday school, participate in choirs, or participate in other ministries, but do not truly do it for God, then everything we do is just illusory and meaningless. Only when our motive is to please God, not to satisfy our secret and selfish desires, can everything we do be acceptable to God and become good.
PRAYER:
Ask God to enlighten you, examine your motive for participating in ministries, and see if there is any selfishness in it. If so, confess your sins to God and repent, ask God to cleanse your heart; dedicate to God that you will try your best to please Him and don’t care how others think of you.
HYMN:
Living For Jesus – youtu.be/Jn-czHr13FE
