Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, “We are safe!”—only to go right back to all those evils again? [Jeremiah 7.9-10]
This passage jumped out at me today because it so clearly defines something that has been seen in the Church today.
No doubt, the Church today is infiltrated by the world. As much as it should be the other way around, sadly, for the most part, it is not. The Church looks and sounds no less like the world than the world itself. Everything from our music, lights, dress, tattoos, movies, etc, etc. The Church works the same kind of jobs, follows the same social structure, and consequently follows the same cultural structure. The Church's children are in daycare just like the world's and in far too many cases, the Church's homes are single-parent homes. Divorce has ravaged the Church no less than it has ravaged the world. What's more, people today find no conviction from the pulpit about living together unmarried and even attending church services as if it is acceptable or optional. Even worse, some churches are not only accepting, but promoting same-sex unions and homosexuality in general. As the world has degraded, it has taken the Church with it.
And then, I still hear people say (mostly in full-gospel settings), "Don't speak defeat or negative things." Going on they say, "Only confess good things."
Let me just quote from the prophet Jeremiah:
Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, “We are safe!”—only to go right back to all those evils again?
See the problem? A good confession is indeed important, but not nearly so important as obedience to God in all other things!
From the same chapter in Jeremiah we read:
This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Take your burnt offerings and your other sacrifices and eat them yourselves! When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and sacrifices I wanted from them. This is what I told them: ‘Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Do everything as I say, and all will be well!’ [Jeremiah 7.21-23 underline mine]
There are not enough "positive words" in the universe as we know it to overcome disobedience to God. A 'positive confession' will not overcome the effects of an evil heart.
It is time - way past time actually - that the Church repents. There is no need for more programs, committees, plans, outreaches, community efforts, advertising, and the likes. There is simply one need among God's people today - REPENTANCE!
Father, I can see that we have embraced almost any and everything except repentance. Forgive us this wrong and help us by Your kindness to repent.
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