Tuesday after the Tenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 6, 2024 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
When God calls us to amend our ways He is first of all telling us to repent! If we try to do works that seem good but inwardly we believe we have done nothing wrong, we are liars. The temple would not save the people. They rejected God’s Word and the faith that His Spirit would work in them. Good works cannot save anyone, either. The Lord alone gives everlasting life and salvation, through His Word and His power, according to the work of His Spirit.
Those who call themselves “God’s people” cannot amend anything if they reject His truth and His work in their midst. In the Old Testament He often called His people to repent and turn from their faithlessness and injustice. Through the prophets He told them to hear and obey His teaching, but many refused. Congregations and church bodies still persist in the same mistake. They say they are faithful and strong, walking together in the Word of Christ, but they insist on tolerating injustice, they make excuses for false doctrine and negligent practice, and they cling to their organization as if it were their best hope for righteousness.
Our merciful God continues to call sinners and hypocrites to repent and amend. He continues to call them to stop resisting His Spirit and stop ignoring His truth. His faithful people continue to hear His Law, repent, try to amend, and faithfully trust in Christ Jesus, who takes away the sin of the world.
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.
