July 31

July 31, 2009

3 Questions for a Friday

First of all, I have the greatest admiration for this guy Jeremiah. God asked him to sacrifice huge amounts of personal comfort for the mission. If you ever hear me whining, remind me about the call on Jeremiah’s life. But, here are the three questions from chapter 17.

1. What are you trusting in? 5-8
Most people today are trusting that man has the ultimate solution for the problems that face us. We only have to look within ourselves for the answer. God says that person is cursed. Curse is a strong word. This word comes from the word “bound.” We become so wrapped up with ourselves we cannot see the goodness of God. When we choose to trust in ourselves…. both as individuals and as a society, we place ourselves under a curse. The test for what are we trusting in: how much are you praying?

2. What is the condition of your heart? 9-11
Jeremiah has some bad news concerning that condition. This is called the doctrine of total depravity. The heart of every problem is the problem of the heart. Our hearts are sinful and separated from the holiness of God. This does not mean that we are all as wicked as we can possibly be…. but it does mean we are infected and affected in every part of our personality with sin. Right here we have a huge conflict with our culture. John Locke was a British philosopher who is largely responsible for this conflict with the Bible. In 1690, he wrote his book An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. In his work, he stated that whenever someone is born, they are born with their mind being a blank slate, “A tablua rasa .” Tablua Rasa says we are born good and we just need to provide good experiences and everything will turn out right. If we can just have good parents, good teachers, and a good society, kids will grow up to be good kids. The Bible says we need to have a heart transplant by Jesus. We cannot master sin in our own strength. We must turn to Jesus to receive help from on high. Jesus' way is to change us from the inside out.

3. Where is your hope? 12-18
The glorious throne is our place of sanctuary. It is our hope for today and the future. What a privilege we have to worship the creator of heaven and earth. Our hope is not grounded in anything on this planet. Several years ago the noted British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge was a guest at a breakfast in Washington, DC. When he had finished his speech, he made a number of comments about world affairs, all of which were very pessimistic. One of the people present said, Dr. Muggeridge, you have been very pessimistic. Don't you have any reason for optimism? Malcolm replied, “My friend, I could not be more optimistic, than I am, because my hope is in Jesus Christ alone. He allowed that remark to settle for a few seconds, and then he added, "Just think if the apostolic church had pinned its hope on the Roman Empire!"

Place your hope in God. Do not anchor to anything on this temporary planet.

Galya will be joining us on our journey and she will be writing Monday’s blog. We will probably change our accountability day to Friday starting in two weeks. Keep up the Bible reading!! Don’t slack off just because it is summer.