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Choose Your Life
arrangements.
The people began listening
to words that did not come from God. God told them not to trust in deceptive words (vs. 4). People will try to change, alter, water- down, and prostitute God’s word to make it comfortable and easy for people to think that it is okay for them to live the way they want and remain in the presence of God. Make no mistake about it, God will put you out of the promised land and still love you. God loves the sinner and the back- slider, but He will not allow them to dwell in His presence!
God has issue with the way they are treating the father- less, the foreigner, and the widow; they are not acting justly towards one another (vs. 6). God says to them if you really change your ways and ac- tions and treat each other right (vs. 5) then I will let you live in this land for- ever and ever (vs. 7). The change that you must make cannot be superficial and on the surface. The change must be a real change that changes the way you live and act. If you change your life and align
your life with the word and the will of God, He promises to allow you to have an everlast- ing lease in the land He has provided.
God declared that you will not steal and murder, commit adultery and per- jury, and worship other gods (vs. 9) and then come and stand before Him in the temple (vs. 10). God will not tolerate you living one way during the week and then want to come and stand before Him on Sunday like everything is okay. Just as you require faithfulness and honesty in your relationship, even when you are apart, so does God. God does not want you to stop coming to the house, He wants you to make the necessary changes to make living to- gether with Him pleasant.
God’s house has not be- come a den of robbers and thieves: He has been watching you (vs. 11). The church is not intended to be a place that you can live a sinful life and think that you can come and hide. God sees how you are living. God sees every- thing. He sees the stuff you do when no one is around. He sees where you did it, when
you did it, and with whom you did it.
God instructs them to go to a place named Shiloh and see what He did to them because of their wickedness (vs. 12). God speaks to His people that while they are doing all this bad living He tried to talk to them, but they would not listen (vs. 13) so now He will do to them the same thing that He did to the people of Shiloh (vs. 14). God will give you an ex- ample of His punishment using history. Those who grew with siblings or other family members learned from the spankings of others. God has been trying to tell you for some time that He is not pleased with the choices you are mak- ing. God wants to get your at- tention so you can change your ways before He has to chastise you like He has done others who would not listen.
You can choose to ignore the warnings and lesson of the past or take heed and make the necessary changes in your life. Making a change to live up to God’s standards will prove to be greater than living the way you want to live.
God has given humanity the choice of the life they want to live. A person can choose to live a life with God in covenant and relationship or a life with- out covenant. For those who choose to live life in covenant with God, they must do so with a whole heart and mind. God has established a standard that those who live in relationship with Him must adhere to. Jer- emiah 7:1-15 serves as a re- minder of what happens when God sees the people who have vowed to live in a covenant re- lationship with Him but do not live according to the standard.
God instructs the prophet Jeremiah to proclaim a mes- sage to the people as they came to the temple (vs. 2). God’s message to the people who came to worship was “Reform your ways and
your actions, and I will let you live in this place” (vs. 3). This message from God calls attention to the relation- ship between the way you live your life and where God allows you to live it. You can choose to live life the way you want to but you must understand you will not live it in the place God has prepared. The place God has prepared for His people to live is a place of peace, protec- tion, and prosperity. God has prepared a place of worship, praise, and thanksgiving.
The people have chosen to live a life that is not aligned with the standards of God and He is giving them warning to change their ways. God does not just evict you, He will serve you notice of the opportunity to make the necessary changes to maintain your blessed living
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