Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living - The Global of the Nazarene's Foundry Publishing House in Kansas City, Missouri, United States for Tuesday, 3 July 2018 "Our Choices Bring Consequences" by William Coker, Jr. - Jeremiah 18:13-23.

Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living - The Global of the Nazarene's Foundry Publishing House in Kansas City, Missouri, United States for Tuesday, 3 July 2018 "Our Choices Bring Consequences" by William Coker, Jr. - Jeremiah 18:13-23.
Jeremiah 18:13 “Therefore, Adonai says this:
‘Ask among the nations
who has heard anything like this.
The virgin Isra’el has done
a most horrible thing.
14 Does the snow of the L’vanon
disappear from the mountain crags?
Do the cold waters of foreign lands
ever run dry?
15 No, but my people have forgotten me
and offer incense to nothings.
This causes them to stumble
as they walk the ancient paths;
they leave the highway
to walk on side-trails.
16 Thus they make their land an object of horror
and ongoing ridicule.
Passers-by shake their heads,
appalled, every one.
17 Like a strong east wind, I will scatter them
before the enemy.
I will see their back, not their face,
on their day of disaster.’”
18 Then they said, “Let’s develop a plan for dealing with Yirmeyahu. Torah won’t be lost from the cohanim, or counsel from the wise, or words from the prophets. So come, let’s destroy him with slander; and meanwhile, we won’t pay attention to anything he says.”
19 Pay attention to me, Adonai!
Listen to what my opponents are saying!
20 Is good to be repaid with evil?
For they have dug a pit [to trap] me.
Remember how I stood before you
and spoke well of them,
in order to turn your anger
away from them?
21 Therefore, hand their sons over to famine,
hurl them into the power of the sword,
let their wives be made childless and widows,
let their husbands be slain by disease,
let their young men be slain by the sword in battle,
22 let screams be heard from their houses
when you bring raiders on them without warning.
For they have dug a pit to catch me
and have laid snares for my feet.
23 Nevertheless, Adonai, you know
all their plans against me to stop me.
Do not forgive their crime,
do not blot out their sin from your sight;
but let them be made to stumble before you;
deal with them when you are angry. (Complete Jewish Bible).
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As  child I p,ayed The Last Straw, a game in which players loaded straw pieces into pouches on a two-piece camel on wheels held together by a rubber band. Eventually the camel collapsed under the weight of the straw pieces. In contrast to the imagery of the "last straw," which focuses on the result, Seneca the Younger, an ancient Roman philosopher, emphasized the continuity of the final hour of life with all the hours before it. Thus, the hour of judgment is merely the completion of a process.

Although the Christian attitude is love (see Matthew 5:44) and patience (see Romans 12:20), consequences are a necessary part of discipling. Behaviors permitted or excused rarely change. The LORD described Israel as having become a spiritual harlot, even strangers recognized the impacted on their land. As YHWH’s representative, Jeremiah’s concern was not simply his wounded pride but Israel’s disregard of the covenant. Israel’s rejection of YWHW and plot to kill the prophet was the final straw or culmination shifting Jeremiah’s plea for deliverance to a cry for judgment. The hope for future redemption rather than the final judgment (see Revelation 20:11-15) rests in the paradox of repentance following disciplinary consequences.***
Hymn for Today: "This is Thy Will, I Know" by Charles  Wesley.

1. This is Thy will, I know,
That I should holy be,
Should let my sins this moment go,
This moment turn to Thee.
2. O might I now embrace
Thy all sufficient power,
And nevermore to sin give place,
And never grieve Thee more!

Thought for Today: For we do not have a cohen gadol unable to empathize with our weaknesses; since in every respect he was tempted just as we are, the only difference being that he did not sin. (Hebrews 4:15) (Complete Jewish Bible)).

Please pray: For the development of Christian leaders in Kenya.
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