Open Your Heart and Hear
“Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.” Jeremiah 7:9-11
Nothing like mighty strong words of warning spoken by God long ago in the Old Testament where many people don’t want to go to ignite a fire of conviction for any of us willing to open our ears and hearts and hear and repent.
God is telling the people through Jeremiah the prophet how dare they worship in His temple while their lives are filled with abominable sin and the wicked worship of other gods. Think this doesn’t relate to us today? How many of us are trotting off to synagogue and church weekly while spending the rest of the week clutching our porn, drugs, adultery, sex outside of marriage, lust, gossiping mouths, judgmental spirits, nasty mouths, refusal to spend time in God’s Word, stealing, lying, cheating, pride, vengeance, violence, and God only knows what else to our filth-ridden lives without an ounce of remorse or repentance or even the vaguest desire to cry out to God for His mercy and strength to come clean of our idols and evil and walk in His ways?
We hug people at church, bring cookies to temple, sing praise songs in our cars, toss our prayers to heaven, say we believe in God and cleave to our “religious traditions” while refusing to purify our hearts and lives. If we think we’ve seen God’s judgment and wrath this world deserves for plunking ourselves down in our pews while keeping our backs turned to Him, we ain’t seen nothing yet. Repent, believe in the Lord, and purify yourself while there is time.