God sure can be creative in His punishments!

I find some of God's punishments interesting and even inspired.  Check this out!

Jeremiah 16:10-13(NKJV)

10“And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ 

11then you shall say to them, ‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the Lord; ‘they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law. 

12And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me. 

13Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.’

Isn't that inspired.  It's as if God is saying "You want to serve other gods?  Well you're going to get your wish.  Not only are you going to be taken into captivity but in captivity you are going to have to serve other gods until you are sick to death of it! " 

I like it!

God's Punishments

I found this interesting and instructive.

Jeremiah 15:19(NKJV)

19Therefore thus says the Lord:      “If you return,     Then I will bring you back;     You shall stand before Me;     If you take out the precious from the vile,     You shall be as My mouth.     Let them return to you,     But you must not return to them.

Let me put this in perspective.  God is about ready to let Judah be carried away to Babylon.  Some people pray to be saved.  Look at God's response. 

He doesn't eliminate their punishment.  God instead seems to say that they need to prove their sincerity in returning to Him.  Once He sees that He will end their punishment early but they don't get out of it entirely.

The Law Was Our Tutor

Galatians 3:21-25(NKJV)

21Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 

22But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 

23But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 

24Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 

25But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

This is an interesting turn of phrase.  Not sure exactly what it means but let me take a shot at it. 

Before we receive the Holy Spirit we need to receive Jesus.  Since Jesus wasn't around back then there was no way for the people to receive the Holy Spirit so God gave then the law to guide them. 

Once we accept Jesus we get the Holy Spirit to guide us and we have no further need of the law?  I don't know but it seems logical to me.

"…but they would not hear."

How sad.  God has such great plans for everyone but some refuse to hear. 
 

Jeremiah 13:11(NKJV)

11For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,’ says the Lord, ‘that they may become My people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they would not hear.’

Heaven and Earth, are the systems the same?

There is a lot of talk about income inequality in this country.  There are some who are casting it as a moral issue and are saying it is a bad thing. 

I have one question about that.  Doesn't the Bible tell us that we will all receive rewards in proportion to the work we have done for God?  I believe it does.  Here are just three examples. 

Matthew 16:27(NKJV)

27For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.

Revelation 2:23(NKJV)
23I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.

1 Corinthians 3:8(NKJV)

8Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

Now if unequal rewards is the system in place in Heaven, why would you expect the exact opposite system to be in affect on earth? Are those who think income inequality is a moral problem suggesting that God is immoral?

"Therefore we make it our aim….to be well pleasing to Him!"

2 Corinthians 5:9(NKJV)

9Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 

As I have written before, Jesus talks a lot about the heart.  That is really what He is looking for.  Is our heart focused on Him?

I think if we make it our goal to be "well pleasing to Him" everyday, that will go a long way towards showing where our heart is.

"They are not valiant for the truth…"

"They are not valiant for the truth…"  

Wednesday, July 01, 2015

2:30 PM

Jeremiah 9:3(NKJV)

3    “And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies.      They are not valiant for the truth on the earth.     For they proceed from evil to evil,     And they do not know Me,” says the Lord.

I like the sound of that but what does it mean exactly?  I think it means that there are a lot of Christians out there who bend to social convention and don't stand up for the truth.  Sometimes it takes guts to stand up for the truth.  Sometimes their are costs for standing up for the truth.  That is why you need to be valiant!