Good day dear friends. We begin with prayer asking God's comfort and blessing on a very special person who has been placed in hospice care in San Antonio. Mr. Bob Herring, an active layman from Trinity UMC, has been battling cancer for some months now and last word I have received is that he is now under hospice care. Bob is a very caring, committed man to the Lord Jesus and we pray the Lord bless Bog and his dear wife Erna. May the comfort of God be with their family too.
Tuesday: Let’s spend one last day considering the issues of truth and falsehood before turning tomorrow to Jesus’ words about criticism and judgment. Jeremiah the prophet gave the following statement some time prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. He is known for his passion, and his tears, shed on behalf of his people. Read Jeremiah 9:1-11. 9:1 O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people! 2 O that I had in the desert a traveler's lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a band of traitors. 3 They bend their tongues like bows; they have grown strong in the land for falsehood, and not for truth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says the LORD. 4 Beware of your neighbors, and put no trust in any of your kin; for all your kin are supplanters, and every neighbor goes around like a slanderer. 5 They all deceive their neighbors, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongues to speak lies; they commit iniquity and are too weary to repent. 6 Oppression upon oppression, deceit upon deceit! They refuse to know me, says the LORD. 7 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: I will now refine and test them, for what else can I do with my sinful people? {Or 8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit through the mouth. They all speak friendly words to their neighbors, but inwardly are planning to lay an ambush. 9 Shall I not punish them for these things? says the LORD; and shall I not bring retribution on a nation such as this? 10 Take up weeping and wailing for the mountains, and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard; both the birds of the air and the animals have fled and are gone. 11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a lair of jackals; and I will make the towns of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.
What is the sin of the people noted in this passage?
What is God’s response? Let’s turn to a great passage in the New Testament – read Ephesians 4:20-5:2.
20 That is not the way you learned Christ! 21 For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus. 22 You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 25 So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. 26 Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not make room for the devil. 28 Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. 29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 31 Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, 32 and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 3 But fornication and impurity of any kind, or greed, must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints.
Note the portions of this passage that have to do with sins committed with our lips.
Invite God to help you lay aside these sins.
PRAYER: O Lord, how easy it is to commit so many sins without really thinking and just opening our mouths. We pray asking for forgiveness for those times we have hurt someone special to us. May we seek to be guided by You so that we not offend. May we share blessings and life with our words. May we seek to build up and not tear down. We pray in the name of He who came to reconcile us to God and to each other, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
