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Prophesying False Hope
Pick the hot social issue of the day. Pick the hot button issue of any type in our current time. Think of the rhetoric you hear on blogs and other forms of media. On any issue, no matter the “side,” more often than not you will hear opinion. Sometimes, as Christians, it may have some sense of “biblical” formation. Yet,…
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The Lesson of the Underwear
These are days when I am fascinated by English translations and wish I knew Hebrew. (And I know at least TWO comments I will get on that statement alone.) Jeremiah is part of our Lenten reading and the symbolic things Jeremiah had to do were… um… interesting. This one from Jeremiah 13 is really interesting. First, the “polite” version: This is what…
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When the Word of God is Offensive… We’re in Trouble
10 To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it. (Jer. 5:10, NIV) When we quit listening to the Word of God because we don’t find it “to our taste,” we’re in trouble. We’re looking for pleasure in…
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The Warm Fuzzies and Fear
It’s probably best to avoid Jeremiah in your Lenten reading if you’re into the warm fuzzy God stuff. As a matter of fact, you will need to avoid the Romans 3 reading for today as well. In fact, close your eyes, connect your middle finger with your thumb, and just start singing “Kumbaya.” If your view of God is the…
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Broken Cisterns
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. (Jer. 2:13, NIV) We exchange the glory of God for our own glory. We insert our own efforts and abilities in where the grace of God and the power of the Spirit should…
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Advent — Righteousness and Justice
14 The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days…
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Shredding the Word of God
20 After leaving the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe, they went to the king’s court and told him everything. 21 The king sent Jehudi to take the scroll, and he retrieved it from the room of Elishama the scribe. Then Jehudi read it to the king and all his royal officials who were standing next to the king. 22 Now it was…
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Discipline IS Love
One of the backward ideas we seem to have is that God doesn’t “punish” his people because he looooovvvvves them. As if discipline isn’t love. He finally had to bring Judah down to get their attention. It was harsh. It was brutal. Yet, it was not out of God’s fierce anger for revenge. It was out of his heart to get…
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Shall We Only Take What is “Good” from God?
2 Go down to the potter’s house, and I’ll give you instructions about what to do there. 3 So I went down to the potter’s house; he was working on the potter’s wheel. 4 But the piece he was making was flawed while still in his hands, so the potter started on another, as seemed best to him. 5 Then the Lord’s word came to me: 6 House of Israel,…
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God as Jilted Lover
The language of Jeremiah is the language of a Lover. A hurt Lover, but nevertheless a Lover. Can you blame God? He’s done all he can to pour out his extravagant love on a nation that just doesn’t want what he is offering. It’s like an addiction. Once Israel gets out of slavery and tastes the “freedom” of the wide…
Tag: Jeremiah
