Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23.

I loved this this morning in My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers: “The Offering of the Natural – “It is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman.” Galatians 4:22. Paul was not dealing with sin in this chapter of Galatians, but with the relation of the natural to the spiritual. The natural can be turned into the spiritual only through sacrifice. Without this a person will lead a divided life. Why did God demand that the natural must be sacrificed? God did not demand it. It is not God’s perfect will, but His permissive will. God’s perfect will was for the natural to be changed into the spiritual through obedience. Sin is what made it necessary for the natural to be sacrificed…Sanctification means more than being freed from sin. It means the deliberate commitment of myself to the God of my salvation, and being willing to pay whatever it may cost.”

Reading our chapter, Jeremiah 16, we see that Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, is telling Jeremiah to not take part in any normal activities of the people around him. Then the word of the Lord came to me: “You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place…Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal…And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink.” v. 1, 5, 8. In the notes below it said that “The section concludes with another appeal to avoid judgment by turning to God. The people did not heed Jeremiah’s words, however, and the first wave of destruction came almost immediately, in 605 B.C. (2 Kings 24:8-12). The second wave came in 597 B.C., and Judah was completely destroyed in 586 B.C.” Why? “When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the Lord decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God?’ then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors forsook me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook Me and did not keep My law. But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors. See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts instead of obeying Me. v. 10-12. Can we see this was not just written for an ancient people? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God…It’s so easy to look around and think others are doing evil. It’s harder to believe we are all of us in need of God to guide us. Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to You the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, “Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods, worthless idols that did them no good. Do people make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!”… “Therefore I will teach them – this time I will teach them My power and might. Then they will know that My name is the Lord.” v. 19-21.

And right there is our hope. Our God will teach us! The “natural” is our deep-seated need to think only of ourselves; to glorify ourselves and set our needs above those of all others. To look down on others and judge harshly thinking we know – when we have no understanding of God’s love for us, His children. Jesus did none of that when He emptied Himself of the glory He had with the Father before the foundation of this world, so He could be God With Us. He showed us a better way in His obedience to the Father’s will. That better way is with the help of the Holy Spirit given for us to begin to teach us and help us see that our deepest need is for God. As we keep our eyes only on this world and its broken ways, we live a stunted life. Why did Jesus come? To show us the Kingdom of God with us. And He has never left us. Lord God, help us walk with You! We need You! Our need for You is great! What does it cost me to commit myself to the God of my salvation? Realizing I can’t save myself or anyone else. That’s a hard lesson to learn. Only God could pay that cost of our sins. Only God can begin a work within us leading to life eternal with Him always. He can! To You the nations will come…to You the nations must come.