Thursday October 13th, 2016 Jeremiah 31:27-34
The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will?watch over them to build and to plant?" (verses 27,28 )
There is a method to God’s activities that is consistent from Genesis through Revelation, namely, the old, damaged and sinful must be destroyed before the new can be born. When Jeremiah was called by God, he was called to “pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” (Jeremiah 1:10) Notice, all the preparatory work must be done before building can begin.
We may be more familiar with Jesus’ words about new wine in old wineskins, or Paul’s assertion that we must put to death our old nature and rise anew in Christ Jesus. So we know it. But do we practice it?
When Jeremiah learned what God’s call entailed, he tried desperately to get out of it. It is never easy to root out sin and evil because it is so ingrained in us, in our loved ones, in the world in which we live. To call sin a sin and demand that we repent of it and begin to live in new, purer ways is never popular, never the easy way. Yet God’s new creation in us and through us can never be built on a foundation of sin, only on the rock of Jesus Christ.
Lord Jesus, give us courage as we follow you. Amen. — DAB
Contributed by Out with the Old
There is a method to God's activities that is consistent from Genesis through Revelation, namely, the old, damaged and sinful must be destroyed before the new can be born. When Jeremiah was called by God, he was called to "pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant." (Jeremiah 1:10) Notice, all the preparatory work must be done before building can begin.
We may be more familiar with Jesus' words about new wine in old wineskins, or Paul's assertion that we must put to death our old nature and rise anew in Christ Jesus. So we know it. But do we practice it?
When Jeremiah learned what God's call entailed, he tried desperately to get out of it. It is never easy to root out sin and evil because it is so ingrained in us, in our loved ones, in the world in which we live. To call sin a sin and demand that we repent of it and begin to live in new, purer ways is never popular, never the easy way. Yet God's new creation in us and through us can never be built on a foundation of sin, only on the rock of Jesus Christ.
