Day 7 - No false impressions
Scripture focus: "And you—you exiles whom I sent out of Jerusalem to Babylon—listen to God's Message to you. As far as Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah are concerned, the 'Babylonian specialists' who are preaching lies in my name, I will turn them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will kill them while you watch. The exiles from Judah will take what they see at the execution and use it as a curse: 'God fry you to a crisp like the king of Babylon fried Zedekiah and Ahab in the fire!' Those two men, sex predators and prophet-impostors, got what they deserved. They pulled every woman they got their hands on into bed—their neighbors' wives, no less—and preached lies claiming it was my Message. I never sent those men. I've never had anything to do with them." God's Decree. "They won't get away with a thing. I've witnessed it all." Jeremiah 29:20-23 (The Message)
The tricky thing about daily devotionals is that there's usually only space for one point! Yesterday, the devotional focused on the need to listen to God's voice. But listening without obedience hardly counts as a virtue.
What we do with our daily lives provides a litmus test for our listening.
One of the points used in Jeremiah to illustrate this truth is the sexual behavior of Ahab and Zedekiah. "They pulled every woman they got their hands on into bed - their neighbors' wives, no less."
There aren't enough ways we can feed, water, clothe, and visit that will compensate for bad living in our daily lives.
Listening to God, really listening, results in serious following.
It changes how we manage our finances.
It guides our sexuality.
It determines the way we treat our partners.
It directs the way we parent our children.
It impacts the way we work.
It requires us to think about how we love others, even our enemies.
It demands that we take every loose thought and emotion, every belief and assumption, and hold it up to the light of God's word.
It makes us realize that it's probably a good thing to say regularly to ourselves, "I could be wrong."
Recommended reading: Leviticus 25 - 27
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