TODAY’S SPECIAL: Jeremiah 7:1-13
TO CHEW ON: "This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, 'This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!' " Jeremiah 7:3, 4
People thronged to the temple after Josiah’s clean-up. Looking at the crowds in “church” you’d think that everything had changed in Judah. But for many people, once they were away from God’s house, nothing had changed.
Crime and murder were common. Widows and orphans were ignored. Foreigners were mistreated. People thought that these things didn’t really matter. They thought Jerusalem would never be destroyed because the temple was there. They had a superstitious faith that the temple would save them no matter what they did.
One day God told Jeremiah to stand at the entrance way of the temple. He was to give the worshipers this message from God: “Change the way you act. Don’t put your faith in the temple. Look at what happened to Shiloh where the ark used to sit. I will do the same thing to Jerusalem if you don’t change your ways.”
It’s easy for us to be like the people of that time. We may think, I go to church and read my Bible. I am part of a Christian family. These things will save me. But if our faith is in these things, we are just as superstitious as the people of Jeremiah’s time.
Only faith in Jesus can save us. The changed lives we live after we have trusted Him show that our faith is real.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, Help me to put my trust in You, not in anything or anyone else. Amen.
MORE: Superstitions
Living by superstitions can cause us to have feelings of false security. Or we may feel afraid that something bad will happen if we don’t do the things our superstitions say to have good luck. Either way, superstitions are not truth but lies. Jesus wants us to live by truth. He said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
1. Look up the dictionary definition of ‘superstition’?
2. What are some common superstitions that people believe?
3. Do you have any superstitious beliefs? If you do, ask God to help you get free of them.