Thurs.’s Devo - Christ In Us

Read: Jeremiah 4:19-6:15; Colossians 1:18-2:7 Psalm 77:1-20; Proverbs 24:23-25 Jeremiah lived to see the destruction of Jerusalem. He lived during Josiah’s son’s rules which were weak and ungodly. The sins of the rule of Manasseh and many other kings were now being realized in real time and Jeremiah saw the judgment coming. He saw their homes being destroyed and heard the sound of the enemy’s trumpets as they sounded their war cry. He saw the desolation of the land and the response of nature to the war. Yet, the people of Judah still acted like they could bribe their enemies into helping them. *** God challenged Jeremiah to go throughout the city and search for one just and honest person. God said they all lied. In all their calamity, none were turning to the Lord, the only one who could help them. They refused to repent. Jeremiah decided that the poor were too ignorant to understand they needed to repent so he went to the learned leaders but they were just as ignorant. They had chosen to worship foreign gods and ignore the voice of God’s prophets. They cursed the prophets and said to let their words fall on them instead, but that would not happen. *** God would send a distant nation against them and they would be devoured by them. But, God would save a remnant of the people. He would send them to a foreign land. *** The people had lost their fear and awe of God, their creator. They had become hunters and the people were the prey. The leaders had become rich and wicked. They refused to give justice to the orphans and the widows. Their false prophets gave false messages and their priests were power-hungry. The sad thing was the people liked it that way. *** Jeremiah sent out a warning to flee Jerusalem before the enemy came and they couldn’t escape. They refused to listen but it wouldn’t stop what was coming. Their land would be picked over again and again till nothing of worth was left. It would all be turned over to their enemies. Their prophets were prophesying peace, but peace was not coming. *** In Colossians, we read that Christ is the head of the Church. God lived in Christ when he walked the earth and through Christ, God reconciled the world back to himself. Through Christ, God made peace with everything in heaven and on the earth. It all happened through the cross. He has individually done that for everyone who chooses to become his son. Through Christ’s death we are brought into the very presence of God and stand blameless before him. *** Paul urged them not to lose this assurance of their position with God. This is the Good News. Paul was honored to have suffered for Christ’s sake and share in his sufferings. The secret that had been revealed to them had been kept secret for centuries but now was revealed to them. This secret was that Christ lives in us. In Christ, lies all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. If He is rooted in us, and our lives are built on Christ then our faith will grow and we will be thankful. *** Lord, thank you for the truths of your Word. Thank you for revealing to us that it is Christ who lives in us and enables us to walk in confident assurance of our position with You. Thank you for empowering us to walk as you walked because you walk through us. Lead us today to do your will.