the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 3 of 5
Jeremiah 7:1-20
The LORD sends Jeremiah to the gate of the temple to preach a stern message. For, in spite of their rebellious state, the people of Jerusalem were loudly boasting that they possessed "the temple of the LORD," and were continuing to worship there, though only in a purely formal way. What inconsistency! What was the value of this temple if it was not in "the One who dwelt there"? (Matthew 23:21). Yet they were denying Him by their evil deeds, of which v. 9 gives us a terrible list. They trod under foot practically the whole of God’s law, at the same time unashamedly presenting themselves before Him in His house (v. 10). They made this a den of robbers (v. 11, quoted by the Lord), defiling it with their abominable practices (v. 10). Christian profession today offers the same double standard: respect for outward forms, but a tragic absence of inner life (Revelation 3:1). And each of us, if we do not keep watch, is exposed to this danger: to be satisfied with the form of godliness but to deny its power . . . which is love for the Lord (2 Timothy 3:5). God wants reality in our lives. It is an insult to talk of relationship with Him if we have not first separated from evil.
For a long time the LORD has spoken, and the people have refused to listen. Now it is He who refuses to listen, even to the prayer of His prophet (v. 16).
