Friday, September 10, 2021

Jeremiah 51:5 Devotion by Stephen Taylor

Jeremiah 51:5

For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the LORD Almighty, though their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel.

and again

 

Jeremiah 51:5 - For the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has not abandoned Israel and Judah. He is still their God, even though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.

 

As I read this verse , my first thought was a grateful one. Grateful that our guilt and sins don’t change who God is and how He loves us! I felt led to use two different translations to show how big, how sovereign, how powerful, and how loving He is, and how wrong we are. Yet His love doesn’t waver. His words never fail us, and His promise of salvation is fulfilled to us through Christ’s victory on the Cross!

 

My second thought came during prayer time, and it was a thankful one. Thankful that He is God and that I am not because I wouldn’t have let me in. I wouldn’t have been able to look past the lifetime of sins and offenses. But thankfully, He did, because of Jesus Christ and Christ alone! Then the realization hit me that if I wouldn’t have let me in, then I probably wouldn’t have let you in either, and boy, what a sad story that would be. But our God didn’t choose to write the story that way. Instead, He chose to send His Son as a redeeming sacrifice for the sins of the world. Whether we believe in Him or not, whether we accept His free gift or don't, the fact still remains that He paid it all and did it in full obedience and surrender to the Father. If the King did that, then the subjects of the Kingdom better follow suit!

 

I encourage us all to not be like me and how I would have responded with the choice of who gets in and who doesn’t but to be like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and welcome sinners into the family with open arms! Thank You, Lord!

 

Luke 5:30-32 - But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

 

Matthew 11:18 - The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”

 

God bless! I love you all! Glory, Honor, and Praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit who leads us in love to those around us!



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