Jeremiah 26-28

August 20

Jeremiah 26-28

God gives us a choice. He could have made us into little robots that did what He wanted when He wanted, but there would not be much of a relationship. Love is not love unless there is a choice that can be made. Even after Israel chose to turn away from God over and over again; even with the Babylonians ready to bring Jerusalem down, God offered Jerusalem a way out. God told Jeremiah to tell them everything He told Jeremiah to say; "Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from his evil way. Then I will relent and not bring on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done." (Jeremiah 26:3, NIV) God goes on to say, but if they do not listen Jerusalem will be destroyed.

God gives us a choice. We can either confess our sin, repent and turn to God and follow Him or we can continue to walk in our sin rebelling against God. We have a choice, but each choice has its consequences. Peter told the crowd gathered at Pentecost; “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38, NIV)  We have a choice. We can repent or we can rebel. Repentance leads to new life in Jesus, rebellion leads to eternity in hell.

We either live by the sinful nature or we live our lives controlled by the Holy Spirit. The Israelites in Jeremiah’s day were living their lives controlled by the sinful nature. They ignored the word of God because they wanted to do their own thing. Many today are in the same place as the Israelites were in Jeremiah’s day. Ignoring God’s word does not make it false. Ignoring God’s word leads to consequences that we do not want to face.

Paul addressed this issue in Romans 8. "Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;" (Romans 8:5-6, NIV) God gives us a choice.