Truth of consequences.
Today, we're reading about the 23rd year of Jeremiah's ministry. For more than two decades, he has warned the people, yet they've continued to turn away from the Lord. At this point the Lord had sent many prophets with the same call: "Repent".
The Lord declares through Jeremiah: "Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not harm you.' Yet you have not listened to Me," says the LORD, "that you might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt." Jeremiah 25:6-7
"Your own hurt" the Lord says.
That reminds me of disciplining my own children. Sometimes I ask them, "Whose choices brought you here?" I want them to understand that their actions have consequences. In my brokenness, I try to correct them well. But God, in His perfect wisdom and love, exposes the error of our hearts and corrects us for our good.
There are consequences to sin.
Yet we have the privilege of living on this side of the cross. For those who are in Christ, our sin has been paid for by His precious blood. We no longer stand condemned before God. Jesus bore the judgment our sin.
But grace doesn't mean sin is without consequences.
Sin can still wound us and others, and our perfect Father lovingly disciplines His children. Hebrews 12 teaches us that His discipline isn't rejection, it's evidence of His fatherly love. He corrects us for our good, that we may share in His holiness.
Do you believe that?
We shouldn't see the Lord as heavy-handed. He is a perfect Father who knows exactly what we need. Even His correction is meant to draw us away from sin and make us more like Jesus.
So don't despise His correction. Receive it. Let it expose what needs to change, lead you to repent, and continue the work of sanctification as you walk with Him daily.
Sometimes the consequences we want God to remove may be part of the very process He's using to transform us.
-To Know Jesus. To Live on Mission.