The Tuesday after the Tenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 26, 2025 by under
Scripture: Jeremiah 7:1-7 (NKJV)
7:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord!’” 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.’
5 “For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, 7 then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.”
Devotion
People were coming to the temple to worship the Lord. Together with the priests, they offered sacrifices, burned incense, read the Torah, and called upon the Lord in prayer—just as one would have expected, based on the Law of Moses. The problem was that their hearts were wicked. They performed the rituals, but they did not repent of their sins. They pretended piety in the Lord’s house, but outside the gates they worshiped Baal and persisted obstinately in sin. Therefore, God sent Jeremiah to warn them: “Amend your ways and your doings!”—that is, repent!—“and I will cause you to dwell in this place”—God will forgive your sins and you will live with Him forever.
This lesson reminds us that God is not pleased with mere outward worship. If we show up to church and only walk through the motions, this is not true worship. God desires faith in the heart. He wants us to worship Him by confessing our sins and trusting in Jesus Christ. Jesus says in John 4:23 “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” When we approach God’s house in true faith, there is a great promise for us: God will cause us to dwell with Him forever. For the sake of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, our sins are forgiven and we receive the gift of eternal life.
Collect: O God, Who declarest Thine Almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of Thy grace, that we, running the way of Thy commandments, may obtain Thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of Thy heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
