Through the Bible: JeremiahSample

Hall of Faith is Better than Hall of Fame

They have lied about the Lord; they said, “He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine… A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?” 

Jeremiah 5:12, 30-31 (NIV) 

 “He will do nothing! No harm will come to us…” – When the false prophets assured the people that their present problems were not warnings from the Lord, they were in fact lying. These false prophets gave false peace messages that the people loved to hear.  They were lying to win the likes of the people. These lies were horrible and shocking in God’s eyes. The second horrible and shocking thing was that the leaders ruled for man’s approval. The final horrible and shocking thing was that the people were perfectly satisfied with the false prophets and corrupt leadership because they were allowed to continually sin without reproof. When disaster came, all was lost – there was no truth to hold onto in the first place. 

We may be tempted to follow along with society to win people’s approval. However, we learn from today’s Scripture that when we do so, we stand on shaky ground. Jesus encourages us to remain in Him even when we are hated for doing so. In order to follow Jesus faithfully, we must repeatedly die to our desires for man’s approval. Let us do so with a joyful heart for our reward is great in Heaven.

Prayer

Father, we desire to be in Your ‘Hall of Faith’ and to live an everlasting life with You, our firm foundation. We repent from striving to please man in the ‘Hall of Fame’, which is shaky ground. In Jesus’ name, Amen.