Read with me Day 4 - Or Else

Jeremiah 4
(read away)

So in the last two chapters God has laid out the crimes of the people of Israel.  They turned from him looking for life from other things.  Then God begs His people to turn from their sins and return to Him.  The request is simple, acknowledge the sin and return to God.  It sounds so loving, so comfy.

Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;
    remove the foreskin of your hearts,
    O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
lest my wrath go forth like fire,
    and burn with none to quench it,
     because of the evil of your deeds.

Jeremiah 4:4 ESV

I'm sorry, what was that about wrath?  I thought God was about love, forgiveness, and salvation.  That's the rub right there:  salvation.  Salvation is only salvation if it is saving you from something.  God was trying to save Israel from the consequences of their sins.  Israel's turning from God has brought devastation down upon them. (See verse 18.)  God would save them from this doom, but they must return to Him.

Are you fleeing from God?  There are consequences to those choices.  Some are for a short time, some are eternal.  Some God would deliver you from, some He would deliver you through, and some He would use to make you grow.  Would you turn to Him?

A Babe in a Manger?

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. http://read.ly/Heb2.14.NKJV

Did Jesus come to be a little baby on a bed of straw, forever sat on your mantel? NO!!!

Jesus came with a purpose and a task. He came to destroy the power of death and release us from the bondage of Sin. He didn't do that in a manger as a babe, or on a hillside as a teacher. He did it as an innocent man dying on the cross for you, in your place. And He didn't do it on accident either, it was a choice he made, because he lives you.

So remember, Christmas is about the God of the universe invading Earth to save you, by dying on the cross. That's the true meaning of Christmas.

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