Today's Scripture Reading (May 15, 2023): Jeremiah 9
I am battling with the stuff
in my life. There are a lot of things that I need to unload. Some of it is the
various little dust collectors we all display in our homes. And maybe it is too
easy for me to throw those things out. But I think I have admitted on this blog
that one of my more challenging decisions concerns the books that I own. I love
books, and I have good friends who have emptied their libraries and then mourned
the loss of their books, which makes me even more hesitant to get rid of some
of mine. But I know I must lighten my world. At least some of my stuff has to
go.
So, like many who have gone
before me, I have to make some hard decisions about what I possess. Are these
things bringing me joy? Am I likely to use them during the next few years? But
some of the most complex decisions are around books and items that have been
given to me. My wife's grandfather, when I was just starting out as a pastor,
gave me a set of commentaries by Adam Smith. Smith wrote his commentary in the
1700s, but this set of books was published in 1850. The books are delicate, and
the truth is that I can access the whole collection of commentaries on the
internet, but I still don't think I can give these books away or throw them
out. There are too many memories connected with these and other books.
Jeremiah looks at Israel and
says there are things in their lives that should not be there, which are more
significant than my excess books and stuff. For Judah, there was sin that was
providing a stumbling block for the nation. And it was sin with which the country
needed to deal. But Jeremiah asserts that God also offers a solution. And
Jeremiah uses the language of the metal refiner to describe the process. Like a
metal worker, God intended to pass the nation through the fire to burn off all
of the impurities, leaving just a refined version of the person at the end of
the process. As God purifies them, his fire takes care of all the stuff in their
lives that simply shouldn't be there.
And it is still the process that
God offers to us. This life was never intended to be easy, but it is during the
more challenging times that we often see the most growth. And so, we should be
grateful for our struggles. But even more importantly, God uses these times of
struggle to burn off every sin that occupies our lives, leaving us better than
when we started.
There is a depression-era
story that brings this struggle into focus. The story is about an unemployed
man who is watching the building of a large church. And in the process, he
notices one worker shaping a piece of stone on the ground. He walks up to him
to ask what he is doing, and the worker explains that he is shaping the stone on
the ground so that it will fit a vacant area up at the top of the church spire.
The unemployed worker begins to weep as he sees himself in the description. God
was shaping him down here so that he would fit up there.
It is what God is still doing
for us, shaping and refining us down here so that we will fit up there.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading:
Jeremiah 10
No comments:
Post a Comment