Jeremiah 7:16-29

‘’Are they not rather harming themselves…’’ (19b).

‘’Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.’’ (23b).

These are the alternatives before us: to go God’s way or our own. Both routes have consequences; they lead to destinations. One is good the other is bad.

Ever since the Garden of Eden, Satan has done a great marketing job with sin. He is so persuasive that it continues to fly off the shelves. Demand is sky high for what he is ‘selling’. He’s a sensational ‘salesman’. He is able to package ‘poison’ so effectively that we want it desperately and swallow it down with barely a thought. Initially it may taste good, but we eventually realise that we’re in dire trouble. The truth is that when we sin; when we break God’s laws, we go against the grain of the universe and we destroy ourselves. (In today’s passage, you see how the people of Judah had rejected God’s Word again and again. They had arrived at a point of no return, and their downfall and destruction were inevitable.)

But when we live as God wants us to live, by the power of His Spirit, we find that our health and well-being are wrapped up in travelling this road.

‘’The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace…’’ (Romans 8:6).

Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life.’’ The Message.

‘’We would surely pursue holiness with greater eagerness if we were convinced that it is the way of life and peace.’’ John R.W. Stott: ‘The Message of Romans’, p.224 (‘The Bible speaks today’)

These are the alternatives that are still set before us in life. ‘’Enter through the narrow gate.For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.’’ (Matthew 7:13, 14).

At least superficially, the ‘’broad ‘’ way may look more appealing. But the ‘’narrow’’ road is the one that leads home.

‘’ ‘’But is it me they’re hurting?’’ GOD’s Decree! ‘’Aren’t they just hurting themselves?’’

‘’Live the way I tell you. Do what I command so that your lives will go well.’’ The Message.

Prayer: Lord God, you know what is best for me. I trust your wisdom, and my intention is to take your route through life. But I know I can’t do this without your help. Please be my companion and guide. Help me to lean on your arm.