Mon.’s Devo -Awake and Repent!

Read: Jeremiah 4:19-6:15; Colossians 1:18-2:7; Psalm 77:1-20; Proverbs 24:23-25 Though Jerusalem was living in ease and safety, Jeremiah saw the destruction played out over and over in his spirit. He could hear the blast of the trumpets of war and see their houses destroyed in a day. The people he was trying to warn were deaf and blind to his warnings. They were about to die and no one seemed to care. They continued their lives of gluttony for sin and pleasure. They abused the poor and needy and didn’t see that they were soon going to be those people. Jeremiah gave a detailed picture of their future devastation but he promised that God would not blot them out completely. He will leave a few and then even they will be picked over again. The people refused to listen and heed Jeremiah’s warnings. They refused to repent. In Colossians, Paul was writing to a church that to most of them, he had never met. They had heard of him but he wanted them to know that he was not the head of the Church - Christ was. The church is the Body of Christ. Christ made peace with everything in heaven and on earth when he died on the cross. We have been given that same peace with everything in heaven and on earth because Christ’s blood now flows through us. The secret of God’s mystery that had been kept for the people before, was now made manifest. That secret was that the Gentiles were invited into God’s family; Jesus died for all. This is common fact to us, but to them it was so new and revolutionary that the devil did everything he could to keep them from grasping it. God wanted them to be confident in his love for them. Lord, thank you that your love is ours no matter what; it is sure and strong. May we be awake to the day we are living in and always looking for your return.