I am slowly…may I say it again, slowly, reading the book of Jeremiah. It’s a book to me one needs to digest slowly because there is so much there and it is heavy. Today I read chapter 5 and oh my gosh…really. This is a word, that keeps running through my mind. We the people have learned nothing from our ancestors…those who have walked before us. Some think the old testament isn’t relevant to today’s world….again “really”…stay with me here…

I’m part a Missional Community group from the church I attend and this last Friday night we watched the movie “Fighting Darkness”. It’s about the Eboli outbreak In Liberia…Well, as we all know over the weekend a horrific display of anti-humanism took place in Charlottesville, VA. I will admit I haven’t read all the stories, news commentaries etc…regarding this tragedy I really don’t need to, to know…really. Can we be so blind?These two incidences really have a lot in common (along with other that have taken place in our world).

As I was reading Jeremiah chapter 5 I was astonished, and my heart got so incredibly heavy over what I’m seeing in my world today and chapter 5 & 4 & 3…you get the idea. Now I do not proclaim to be a theologian but my thought is it really doesn’t take a genius to figure out….we are still at it. Yes, I know he was a prophet…yet God was speaking personally to Jeremiah about what was happening around him and how Jeremiah was to speak to the idiots…oh, I mean, people who weren’t getting it. Their hearts were hardened, they lied, listened to false prophets, all while saying we know God..um at which god would that be. The idols, they made up to be their god. Or the one true God, the one who can save, protect, heal, feed, direct, them into all truth. All while God was watching. He wasn’t just looking at the outward things they were doing…but the inward.

As I look at our world today, right now we are not much different. We lie, steal, cheat, kill, plunder, follow false prophets, make idols out of anything we can touch, see, feel, hear and allowed fear and lack of understanding to drive us farther away, and to continue not listen to the one who loves us more than we ever deserve. He hasn’t struck us down.. Why…I don’t know. Will we ever learn by our mistakes, and the mistakes of others? Will we ever completely surrender our whole heart and lives to the one and only true God?

Being a recipient of such blackened, dark hearts. Hearts and lives who are out for one thing…entitlement driven by hatred…jealousy…fueled by sin, anger, resentment, fear. My hearts desire is for people to really understand that “God so loved the world he GAVE his one and only son…to eradicate sin in our hearts. I would love to see God heal our land but until hearts and lives are completely surrendered to HIM, it won’t happen. Sorry to be the Debbie downer. There will be a day this will all end…yep Revelations time and the choice to be free, God’s way…will end. The chance to change will be no more. In a way I can’t wait for Christ’s coming…that means all this pain, hurt, ugliness will be over, I will be in heaven with Christ and my loved ones…to include my love Mike. But till then, I will continue to read God’s word (I have a way’s to go to finish reading Jeremiah), pray for soooo much and hopefully be a small refection of God’s love to those I come in contact with. There is a definite reason Jeremiah is included. It’s not an easy read but absolutely necessary.

Giving up is not an option…moving forward is a must with our hearts and eyes wide open to the truth and God’s word.