I reached my limit. A solid month of storms in Dallas left many residents, myself included, with warning fatigue. The middle-of-the-night ritual of ear-piercing weather alerts from my phone felt like the one-drop-at-a-time water torture. The thunderstorm wasn’t loud enough, so now we need to be woken up with a reminder?
I finally put my phone in another room far away so I didn’t have to listen to the constant alerts. Yes, I realize you can change your settings and eliminate them all together, but in a warped sort of way, I want to be alerted, just not every night. Since there was nothing I could do about the thunderstorm, tornado or flash flood, I became weary of all the warnings.
Not good.
Reminds me of our post-Christian nation now calloused to the warnings of God.
Jeremiah asks,
“To whom can I speak and give warning?
Who will listen to me?
Their ears are closed so they cannot hear.
The word of the LORD is offensive to them;
they find no pleasure in it.” Jeremiah 6:10
The blame lies not with secularists who disregard the holy Book. God finds fault with his church. We’re experiencing right now the fallout of years of neglecting God’s Word. The Christian church, mandated to be the pillar and support of the truth, is weak, malnourished and ineffective. In countless pulpits, the Bible is not taught, or learned, not preached, and consequently, not obeyed.
The warnings, not within earshot, go unheeded.
In Jeremiah’s day, God’s people had also veered away from His Word. They ignored God’s Law and refused to listen to His prophets. God compared these people to a useless linen waistband, ruined by neglect.
“These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless! For as a belt is bound around a man’s waist, so I bound the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to me,” declares the Lord, “to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened” Jeremiah13:10-11.
If the church of Jesus Christ does not return to God’s Word, the standard by which we are to govern our lives, then we will not be a people for God’s renown and praise and honor, but we will be useless.
I welcome your feedback and input on the state of the Christian church in America.
Janet, you hit the nail directly on the head! I believe this is the reason the church is becoming less and less of an influence in the world. There has to be a standard, a place we can go to find the directions and answers to our questions of how to live a life not only pleasing to God, but to find the requirements or commands that need to be followed to avoid the judgment of God. His Word warns us of the consequences of sin, which is plain and simple the lack of knowing and doing His Word. The last set of verses from the Sermon on the Mount, which has been my latest memory project, in Matthew 7, Jesus teaches about the two houses, one that stands and one that falls. To stand, we must hear and do His Word.
This is what it means to be lukewarm. Christ’s advice to the lukewarm church is divine. “I advise you to buy from Me, gold refined by fire, so that you may become rich. And white garments, so you may cloth yourself, and the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed. And eye salve, so you may anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Revelation 3:18
Gold refined by fire, white garments, and eye salve are all found in the word of God. How do we accomplish this advice? Remember the word!!!
I see similarities in the book of Haggai, to the lukewarm church. There is nothing new under the sun.
Remember the word, Mike
PS I have written a book that remains to be published. It is about this very subject. I covet your prayers and insight, regarding this issue.
You’re right Mike. And it is a struggle for all of us because we drift toward lukewarm-ness. Its our default mode. We have to fight to stay on the cutting edge.
Thank you, Janet, for your post; and yes, as Vicki has said,”You hit the nail directly on the head”. The Church has been,often, neglecting God’s Word. But we can change that by starting with us,individually, saturating ourselves with His Word,daily,hiding His Word in our hearts by memorizing and meditating, day and night. His Word, first on my lips in the morning, in praise, and last words at night in worship.
Thank you for this verse from Jeremiah, which I will memorize today and use in prayer as I lift of my unsaved family members to the Lord.
Thank you, too, for the reminder to continue in prayer for the people of Dallas, experiencing difficult times after the storms.
God bless you, Janet
Maureen, you are so right. We start with ourselves and then broaden our influence. I think that’s what this community is trying to do. Let’s keep spreading the Word and strengthening our own churches.
I agree with all of you. Our nation is a generation from turning completely away from the Lord. So many children today are Biblically illiterate. On the flip side of this is how the rest of the world is turning to the Lord! Everyday I learn about the Gospel being spread in places we might have never imagined it would be possible, let alone received by the people. I am frequently tempted to focus on my country’s falling away, but I must remember the Gospel will reach all nations before Christ’s return: Matt 24:14 And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come. Dr. D James Kennedy preached that never before have so many people heard the Gospel than are hearing it today.
I pray for our nation because we have been the standard for the world to emulate.
A great reminder that its not all about us. There’s a plan for all nations, and praise God the gospel is going out to every corner of the globe.
I totally agree, that’s why it’s so important that we make sure we are ready as individuals because we can’t count on it by anyone else or a church to save us. We have to decide and be ready for ourselves.
So true. Let’s get after it.
So true. I agree with you 100%. Jeremiah is speaking to us, the Church.
Such a wonderful reminder, Janet. I adore Jeremiah and so look forward to meeting him one day.
I will be ever grateful for you and the Holy Spirit working in my life to memorize Scriptures. God is so faithful to lead us to His word that is pertinent to our lives and others in our circle of influence. Right now 1 Peter 2:18-25 are my marching orders. Difficult times, but here is His instruction for me in this time and to remember to rejoice even though distressed by various trials.
Hi Barbara, I agree that we are living in difficult days and 1 Peter gives “marching orders” for all of us. May these words be our source of strength and direction for the days ahead.
This topic and the clear evidence of your conclusion can lead me to become hopeless. “but this I call to mind and therefore I have hope, because of The Lord’s great love we are not consumed – His compassions never fail, they are new every morning Great is your faithfulness.”
I can learn, know and meditate on the Bible. This makes me consider God and live differently. I show others the benefits of this practice. I can do this.
The Bible always makes me hopeful and I will stay at it.
Today I counted how many verses I regularly meditate on and noticed I was over 1000 verses. I was surprised and recalled how this got started:
Several years ago after I learned about Jesus I began to read the bible. Early on I noticed this book’s effect on my life. At that time I was introduced to The Navigators Topical Memory system. I eagerly memorized these verses. I was happier, more stable and incessantly hopeful. I looked around and found The Navigators Life Issue set. I memorized these also. Since then I have always splashed these and other bible verses around in my mind.
A couple years ago I began consistently memorizing and reviewing books of the bible. At this time I have committed to memory and regularly recite/meditate on the following Bible books, chapters and Psalms: Ephesians, Colossians, Titus, 1 John, 1 peter, 2nd peter, Psalms 1, 8, 23, 25, 119, 139, 150, Isaiah 53, and Romans chapters 1 – 7.
So as of today, 6/12/2015, in addition to the 132 Navigators verses (many of which are in the Bible books I have memorized) I have 1014 verses that I regularly meditate on and recite.
I Continue to be incessantly hopeful grow more so as I say the bible and talk to God.
I will spend a couple days saying and thinking on these before moving on to Romans chapters 8 through 16. This will be another 247 verses which I hope to know well prior to Christmas.
Peace, Mark Z
Hi Mark, You’re right. Without the Lord we would all be hopeless. It is only his mercy that saves us and gives us hope. I’ve never counted up my verses, but I know that the more I learn, the more I want to keep learning. It is mentally and spiritually rejuvenating. Keep going brother.