Wednesday, November
29, 2017
Praise the Lord, all you nations. Praise him, all you people of the earth. For his unfailing love for us is powerful; the Lord’s
faithfulness endures forever. Praise
the Lord! Psalm 117:1-2(NLT)
“In that day,” says
the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will
be my people. This is what the Lord says: “Those who survive the coming destruction will
find blessings even in the barren land, for I will give rest to the people of
Israel.” Long ago the Lord said
to Israel: “I have loved you, my people,
with an everlasting love. With unfailing
love I have drawn you to myself. I will
rebuild you, my virgin Israel. You will
again be happy and dance merrily with your tambourines. Again you will plant your vineyards on the
mountains of Samaria and eat from your own gardens there. The day will come when watchmen will shout from
the hill country of Ephraim, ‘Come, let us go up to Jerusalem to worship
the Lord our God.’” Jeremiah
31:1-6(NLT)
Today is the last day in the Christian year’s lectionary cycle. Tomorrow we move from having celebrated the
birth, ministry, passion, resurrection, ascension, return, and reign of King
Jesus; we then start over again at his promised first coming. We are also nearing the end of a calendar
year, and when you come to the end of anything it usually provokes rear view mirror thoughts! Our Scripture passages today depict the different view of forever
people can have.
Jeremiah’s time was hard, harsh and hopeless. Being conquered by cruel enemies tends to be
that way! The prophet first spoke a
warning; then he spoke hope to their hearts.
People who have little (or zero) faith in God tend to see forever as something of
either a curse or the end of existing – an entrance into nothingness. This life is to be enjoyed, grabbed, pushed
to the limits, and then you’re worm food.
Get all you can in your 70 years (plus or minus), because that’s all
there is…and then you’re gone.
Even though Jeremiah’s warnings of the coming enemy conquest were blunt
and harsh, they were an accurate picture of life in the family of God. When you disobey your Creator, you’re going
to the woodshed for a lesson. But at the
end of that lesson is hope! There is a forever future to celebrate;
there will be planting, dancing and joy!
You may have messed-up big-time in this life, but God is the forever
Savior; the game is not entirely over!
And so both the Psalmist and the Prophet say go on and worship…praise the Lord for all His goodness and mercy.
This is the consummate difference between those outside the family of God
and those within; the view of forever
right now brings a smile for God’s children and a curse for those
who are outside. There is laughter and
singing within, and hopelessness without.
The great news about the view
of forever right now is that we get to choose which we will have. God has called everyone to come close, be His
child, and rejoice forever.
For You
Today
The positive, joy-filled view
of forever right now begins with choosing to accept Jesus Christ as
Savior and LORD.
The ball is in your court.
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