“False Confidence”

BIBLE READING: Jeremiah 9-11

                Try to imagine in your mind for just a moment what it would have been like to be a Jew.  You are part of the only nation of the world that God had selected to be joined with Him in a special covenant relationship.  You have every reason to hold your head up high; because by simply being born a Jew, you were granted certain rights and privileges that no one else enjoyed.  That certainly does give you a reason to boast and be proud.   However, that does not excuse sinful behavior.  Just because you have been granted certain blessings from God by being born into a certain family, does not give you an excuse to sin and not follow His commands.  The children of Israel were allowing themselves to overlook their sinful behavior based on the preface that their covenant had already been established.  They trusted more in the covenant and the ritual, than they did their relationship with God.  This mindset describes the current condition of the Israelites in the days of Jeremiah.  The prophet warns them that just having been born a Jew is no reason for them to boast.  He goes on to say that no one should boast in anything that they might have, whether it be wisdom, riches, or strength.  “Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches” (Jeremiah 9:23) The Hebrew word for “boast” means to “celebrate, to make a show or to shine”.  It seems evident from this passage that this is exactly what had been happening in Jeremiah’s day.  Their trust in these types of things had given them a false sense of security that everything was fine and dandy.  It may have been that anytime the prophet would preach and encourage them to change, they would continue in their gloating of just how good and special they were based on their economy, military strength and their wisdom of being God’s chosen people.  Yet in God’s mind, things were nowhere near “fine and dandy”.  Jeremiah warns them against this type of boasting and instead gives them a real reason to celebrate and boast.  The only thing that they should be celebrating is their relationship with God, “…but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD." (Jeremiah 9.24)

            Many of us today have the same issue with our faith.  We believe that since we have been “saved”, we fall under the umbrella of grace and mercy exempting ourselves of seeking out a deeper relationship with Christ.  Grace and mercy are two of the most wonderful things that a Christian can experience, but they are not an excuse or a license to sin.  Paul told the church at Rome, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:1-4).  Just because we have been baptized or saved, does not excuse our behavior, no more than being born a Jew excused Israel’s behavior in the days of Jeremiah.  We have been called to walk in a “newness of life”, not like that of how we lived before we received salvation.  It is only then, when we realize how indebted we are to Christ because of His sacrifice, that we will be able to boast by growing in our relationship with Him.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                MH