Month: February 2025

“Let these false prophets tell their dreams, but let my true messengers faithfully proclaim my every word.  There is a difference between straw and grain!  Does not my word burn like fire?” says the Lord.  “Is it not like a mighty hammer that smashes a rock to pieces?  [Jeremiah 23:28-29 NLT]

“You prophets who do nothing but dream—go ahead and tell your silly dreams.  But you prophets who have a message from me—tell it truly and faithfully.  What does straw have in common with wheat?  Nothing else is like God’s Decree.  Isn’t my Message like fire?” God’s Decree.  “Isn’t it like a sledgehammer busting a rock?  [Jeremiah 23:28-29 MSG]

Observation

Jeremiah is speaking for the Lord to false prophets – ones who say what people want to hear, those condoning sin and ignoring the consequences for themselves and those deceived by their prophecies.  Jeremiah was not popular with the other prophets or the authorities in power.  He kept predicting God’s coming judgment while the others were assuring the people that judgment would never come despite the idolatry and general/public acceptance of sinful practices.  Somehow, being Jewish gave them a free pass to do as they pleased without every facing judgment.  They forgot that the Covenant contained both blessings and curses.

Through Jeremiah, God is saying that time is up!  His patience is at an end.  He will keep His covenant promises – good and bad.  His word told “truly and faithfully” is like fire or a sledgehammer busting a rock – both destructive forces that reduce straw to ash and a boulder to dust.  These people must only wanted to hear good news – God is a softy who will never bring judgment on us.  They must have thought the Temple of God provided some magical protection regardless of their behavior.  It should have been no surprise when God fulfilled Jeremiah’s prophecies by stepping aside to allow His people to be swept off into the Babylonian Captivity.  Consider that the faithful and unfaithful alike were taken away…

Impact on Me

So, the same battle raged then as now – confronting the desire to be liked rather than risk it all by being a truth teller, the desire for favor, position, authority and power from men rather than from God, the belief that judgment will never come, being a false prophet.  How very human to want to be liked and recognized, to want to “know” and “understand” so you appear important or smarter than everyone else, to be considered an insider in power or prophetic circles.  All this is a search for significance that has gotten lost in the woods of the world, the miry clay, the quicksand of the Enemy to keep our hope in ourselves to find meaning and value in life, to listen to what we want to hear. 

There is always that underlying temptation to have itching ears that tell us that God is a softy and will never execute judgment.   BUT God loves us so much that He is faithful to send us those who will “tell it truly and faithfully” even when we don’t like the message or the messenger.  Our God is faithful to keep bringing our focus back to the search for our significance in Christ.  The Holy Spirit works in turning our eyes, our efforts, from what we can do in our own strength to allowing Jesus to be Himself in and through us.  He woos us to trust in Him especially when we don’t understand or don’t like our circumstances, to submit to His sovereign will and plan because we know that He is in control of all. 

Devotion

Father God, so merciful, so faithful, so just and trustworthy, I worship You.  I give permission to Your Holy Spirit to search me for any pockets of self-righteousness, any ways in which my significance is not found in You.  I want to trash the pride that makes me want to be known and recognized, especially when what I do does not honor You.  Redirect my path if I have gone astray.  Shut my mouth if You are not speaking.  Expose and deal with the expectations I have placed on You that are not of You.  You are sovereign and, whether my life is blessed or a sacrifice, yet I will praise You.  In Jesus’ name, make it so.

1 Thessalonians 4:1-6 NIV  As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.  ² For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.  ³ It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; ⁴ that each of you should learn to control your own bodyin a way that is holy and honorable, ⁵ not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; ⁶ and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister.

MSG. “^1-3 One final word, friends. We ask you – urge is more like it—that you keep on doing what we told you to do to please God, not in a dogged religious plod, but in a living, spirited dance.  You know the guidelines we laid out for you from the Master Jesus. God wants you to live a pure life.  Keep yourselves from sexual promiscuity.  ^4-5 Learn to appreciate and give dignity to your body, not abusing it, as is so common among those who know nothing of God.  ⁶Don’t run roughshod over the concerns of your brothers and sisters. Their concerns are God’s concerns, and He will take care of them.”

Observation

Like Ephesis and Corinth, Thessalonika (now known as Saloniki) was an important seaport on a major trade route between Rome and the East. The culture of the city was influenced by its location, its importance, its influence, its cosmopolitan population, its Roman occupiers.  There was a synagogue in the city, but the great majority of the people  would have practiced a pagan religion, such as adopting and worshipping the Roman pantheon of gods.  Christianity was seen as heretical by religious Jews, sometimes seditious by Rome and foolishly priggish by the secular culture.  Many pagan religions either overlooked or condoned promiscuity by actually including sex acts with “Vestal Virgins” in their worship practices. 

Paul is exhorting the new Christians to revolutionize their understanding of how to please God, even in the face of cultural and religious persecution – whether they are converted Jews or pagans, whether they previously worshipped another religion, many gods or secular culture (money, power, accomplishment).  Paul exhorts them to live a pure life in order “to please God, not in a dogged religious plod, but in a living, spirited dance.”  Their faithfulness to a living, spirited dance, in the face of persecution and regardless of appearances or immediate results, planted the seed for worldwide generations of redemptions to follow.

Impact on Me

Paul’s exhortation to the believers in Thessalonika rings as true to me today as it did to the believers in the 1st century. San Diego is also “an important seaport on a major trade route” and home to many nationalities, cultures, and religions, people brought here on military orders, for research or education, as refugees seeking an environment for freedom and an opportunity for success, a warmer climate or ??  The secular culture in which I live worships status, possessions, winning, “Mother Nature” and all forms of created things, physical pleasures, expediency and convenience. How are these challenges (false gods, idols) any different than the ones faced by those early Christians? 

How do I need to revolutionize my thinking regarding the common cultural and religious practices of my own?  Where does my life need to be purified and am I willing to face persecution or disfavor to do so?  The great and glorious news is that the Holy Spirit is not discouraged by my failures or fears regarding opposition or persecution (He has dealt with humans like me then and now), so I can be encouraged and choose in Christ a living spirited dance of following, loving and serving Him, expecting the same results of my brothers and sisters of so long ago.

Devotion

Lord, I submit myself to You. Take me in Your arms and teach me to live 24/7 that spirited dance of joyful worship to You. May my heart and soul hunger to draw others into the same dance, even if they are currently dancing to the Enemy’s tune or they have allowed all music and light to fade away into darkness (hopelessness, anger, bitterness, apostasy, worshipping created things).  When I become distracted or discouraged by the circumstances, my inadequacies, or the immensity of the task, draw my eyes back to You so my hope and faith will rise as I return the accomplishment of the results to You. In Jesus’ name, I pray.