Two things stood out at me from today’s reading:
The LORD says to the people of Judah,
“What right do you have to be in my temple, my beloved people?
Many of you have done wicked things.
Can your acts of treachery be so easily canceled by sacred offerings
that you take joy in doing evil even while you make them?
(Jeremiah 11:15)
This verse made me closely examine my approach to worship. Too often I approach God (whether individually or corporately) without having prepared my heart to do so. Sometimes I haven’t asked forgiveness from someone I should have. Sometimes I’m dealing with a poor attitude or bitterness. Sometimes my mind is just not focused on the Object of my worship. I find that I take worship far too casually. And when I do, its not really worship. Its just going through the motions, no matter what what I feel while I’m singing or listening or interacting with the word. Israel had gotten to the point where God asked them what right they had to be in the temple. May my worship never become so meaningless that its not even worth showing up for.
The LORD gave me knowledge, that I might have understanding.
Then he showed me what the people were doing. Before this I had been like a docile lamb ready to be led to the slaughter.
I did not know they were making plans to kill me.
I did not know they were saying,
“Let’s destroy the tree along with its fruit!
Let’s remove Jeremiah from the world of the living
so people will not even be reminded of him any more.”
(Jeremiah 11:18-19)
I’ve wondered a lot lately about the lack of persecution the American Church faces. When reading the Prophets and the New Testament it seems clear that when the people of God are doing their job, they face persecution. Jesus told his disciples that they should expect persecution because he himself faced it. Yet the American Church faces very little persecution. In fact, we currently have a whole group of Presidential candidates catering to the Church in order to earn votes. If we are to expect persecution when following God, why are we not experiencing any? My own personal opinion is because we have become too interested in politics and too closely related to government. When Christians do receive criticism it is often based on our political beliefs and not on the basis of our proclamation of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.
For those individuals who do face persecution from family and friends because of their beliefs (because some individuals do, even if the Church in America doesn’t) and for the persecuted Church around the world, there is the assurance that God will avenge the suffering of his people. Jeremiah asked the Lord to vindicate him and judge those who have threatened his life, and God responded:
So the LORD who rules over all said, “I will surely punish them! Their young men will be killed in battle. Their sons and daughters will die of starvation. Not one of them will survive. I will bring disaster on those men from Anathoth who threatened you. A day of reckoning is coming for them.” (Jeremiah 11:22-23)