Jeremiah

I am going through a 1 year Bible, and unfortunately it's taken me 2 years to get through it--not exactly the plan, but I ended up almost catching up with the month.  That a little beside the point though.

The re-arranged Bible goes through in order, but starting from 4 places at once.  I read Old Testament, Psalms, Proverbs, and New Testament every day.  For the Old Testament, I am at Jeremiah.

It's really been hitting me hard lately when I read Jeremiah.  If you've ever read it, it talks about how the people of Israel were going against God, and were burning incense and worshiping other gods, in addition to other things.  God punished them by delivering them into the hands of their enemies and in effect destroying their livelihood.  There are a few things that really struck me hard.

The first thing is the harsh words used for the non-Christians.  Now, I know that if you do not believe in Jesus Christ you will not go to Heaven.  But for some reason that's not as pungent when you don't have non-Christian friends.  For the longest of time, most, if not all, of the people that I came into contact with were Christians.  I went to a Lutheran grade school, a public high school (where I found a group of Christian friends), and a Lutheran university.

Now, I am in the 'real world', per say.  I live in an environment where most of the people that I befriended and run into on a regular basis (or non regular basis for that matter) are not Christian.

This makes Jeremiah's message even more painful for me to listen to.  Jeremiah 14:11-12 states: “Do not pray for the well-being of this people. Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.”

Of course, this is taken out of context.  This is not how we should treat non-Christians.  But once we die, this IS how non-Christians will be regarded in God's eyes.  I do not want this to be the fate of my friends.  I wouldn't even wish this upon enemies. It's just a harsh realization that God is serious about those who follow Him will go to heaven, and those who don't will go to hell.

It also struck me how God told Jeremiah how he was angry that the people were burning incense to false gods.  You know, all of this in my mind was old-fashioned.  Something you only read about in the Bible.  Then I moved to Asia.

Here, incense is burned to ancestors and to gods alike.  It's normal to do.  It's expected.  I just get to thinking about what this is in God's eyes.  It's no different from Jeremiah's days...the people are following false gods--are following nothing--instead of following the Triune God.

It hurts me to know that my friends are doing this.  It hurts me to know that they are not following God.  It hurts me to know that they will not go to heaven.

Please pray for my friends.  Also, pray for everyone else who does not believe in God, who sent Jesus Christ, also true God, to die for our sins, and who rose again from the dead to unite all believers together in heaven one day.

**If you are from Asia and are reading this, please know that I am not attacking your culture.  I am stating that the traditional worship found within the Chinese culture (and many other Asian cultures) is not in line with what God wants us to do, and should be separated from the term 'culture'.  Asian culture is beautiful, and I am happy to be living in it, but the worship that so often comes with it is not pleasing to God.