Eddie’s Bible Journal August 13-19

We’ve been reading the book of Jeremiah this month and I’ve really been challenging myself to consider this book’s implications for us in the new covenant. In much of this book, Judah believes that they are safe because they possess the Temple and they are God’s people, but their actions are condemning them and bringing discipline from the Lord.

Consider the following paragraph. . .

Jeremiah 7:8-11: 8 “‘Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It’s a lie! 9 Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, 10 and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, “We are safe!”—only to go right back to all those evils again? 11 Don’t you yourselves admit that this Temple, which bears my name, has become a den of thieves? Surely I see all the evil going on there. I, the Lord, have spoken!

In the new covenant the Temple is in each believer. . . we are the temple where God lives.  Is it possible that believers today could believe they are safe simply because they are the temple of God, even as their actions are disobedient to God.  I think so. I believe that the message of Jeremiah today to the Church, to you, and to me, is to not be so presumptive . .. that just because we are God’s people that we still aren’t capable of acting outside of God’s will and we therefore invite discipline from the Lord because He is just and He disciplines those that He loves. I pray that we all might be even more humble and more hungry than ever to understand God’s will for our lives, so we can be blessed with more of Him, now and in eternity.