“As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you.” – Jeremiah 44:16

People won’t always listen to God’s Word! While we eagerly desire for those with whom we share God’s hope, plan, and teachings to listen and respond favorably, that isn’t always going to happen. In fact, it may seldom happen. That doesn’t lessen our responsibility one bit.

Jeremiah’s ministry wasn’t a happy one. He proclaimed the word of God for many years, but nobody really listened and nobody changed their sinful behavior. That didn’t make his work less important or less anointed by God. His model of faithfulness should inspire us to minister faithfully even in unfruitful times and in the face of tremendous opposition.

As followers of God, we’re called to be faithful and to trust God to produce fruit according to His will and His timing. We can’t make people respond to the word of God or His offer of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We must trust God for that.

We’re responsible to be faithful in our conduct and our words at all times. We’re called to be faithful in sharing our hope in Christ, living and teaching the Word of God, and ministering in Christ’s name during fruitful seasons and during hard, dry spells. We must so ground our identity and work in Christ’s presence in our lives that we can be equally faithful when things are going great and when everyone harshly rejects what we have to say.

Lord, may we be faithful to you, no matter how the culture and people around us respond!

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” – 1 Timothy 2:1-4

This is a hard discipline in today’s hyper-partisan atmosphere! It’s hard to pray for people we fundamentally disagree with in every way, and yet there are certainly some of those at the federal, state, or local level for just about all of us! Followers of Jesus must never let our earthly political affiliation outweigh our obedience to Christ’s command that we pray for leaders at every level of government and of every political persuasion. We must pray for them faithfully today and pray for them faithfully in a few months even if they are completely different people!

This shouldn’t ever be about politics. This is about pleasing God, living as godly ambassadors in this fallen world, praying for the peace of the church in an increasingly un-peaceful society, and advancing the Kingdom of God. Here Paul explicitly links praying for leaders, including those friendly to the church AND those hostile to traditional Christianity, to the saving of many. We long for another great spiritual awakening to sweep across our country, but are we diligently offering the prayers God commands us to pray that are linked to such an awakening?

“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” – 1 Timothy 1:15

Do you embrace this statement as truth? Every word of it? Do you embrace it as truth about you personally or do you think of it as simply a flowery saying of Paul?

Do you truly believe the mission and purpose of Christ entering our world was to save sinners? Do you personally believe you are the foremost of sinners? You should!

As followers of Jesus, we need to embrace every part of it for ourselves. Much of the weakness and ineffectiveness of the church in North America stems from the failure of each individual Christian to make this truth their own.

When we embrace this truth, we don’t need to be angry, confused, cynical, or frustrated about the actions and statements of those who don’t yet know Jesus. Of course sinners are going to sin – that’s why Jesus came! We can lovingly embrace them as part of the purpose of Christ and our personal mission field.

We should be seeking to make friends with sinners not avoid them. We should listen to them and speak to them of Christ. And we should do so humbly and gently because of our deep awareness of just how awful our own sin and rebellion against God were.

When we embrace this truth, we fall deeply and madly in love with Jesus Who saved us though we surely didn’t deserve it. We become excited to tell people of the incredibly good thing that happened to us: that God loved us and sent His Son to die for us, rather than damning us as we deserved.

When we’re living this truth, we have no room left to hate or condemn sinners we meet. We’re left with the burning desire of one miraculously recovering patient to offer the cure to another dying patient.

“May the Lord direct your hearts to God’s love and Christ’s endurance.” – 2 Thessalonians 3:5

Here’s a timely prayer for 2020! We have so little control over the challenging externals of our time: pandemic, election, civil breakdown, anger, injustice, recession, etc. However, in Christ we have access to all we need to not only endure the ups and downs of life, but to thrive, glorify God, and share Christ!

That won’t be our default human response. Our default human response will be to join in with those who are angry and hateful. It will be to succumb to resentment, frustration, and cynicism about “those people” (whoever we may think they are). Our default human response will be to become discouraged by the relentless tide of bad news and simply decide to give up. As Christians, we will still be tempted to indulge our human response – many Jesus-loving Christians have. But that isn’t what God wants for His people!

As followers of Jesus, we have access to the infinite riches and resources of God Himself! Through the Holy Spirit Who lives within every believer, our hearts can be filled with God’s love and Christ’s endurance regardless of our external circumstances. In Christ, we have the power to love others powerfully and deeply amidst a world full of anger and hatred. In Christ, we have the power to endure every curveball, setback, obstacle, and outright attack of this present moment.

To tap into these resources, we must walk daily with God, spending time with Him in prayer and in reading His Word. We must worship Him often, think of Him often, and serve Him often. As we do, we’ll discover that His mercy, grace, and provision are new every day and His love will fill us to overflowing.

“Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” – 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12

We must always remember that God will permit people to indulge whatever is right in their own eyes for a time. He will turn a decadent culture over to its worst delusions and rebellion against His good design for human flourishing. He will allow them to declare what is false to be true and what is true to be false. He will allow them to redefine what is unrighteousness to be righteous and what is righteous to be us righteous.

None of that means God isn’t real, isn’t powerfully in control, isn’t aware of what’s going on, or isn’t active. Rather, He’s permitting people to heap greater condemnation upon themselves before the final reckoning.

We certainly don’t know all that’s happening in the spiritual realm during this strange and difficult time. However, in surveying the situation, it certainly seems like we may be seeing these verses fulfilled. For those committed to following Christ, holding firmly to the faith delivered once for all time, and pursuing personal righteousness, hold firm and don’t get discouraged!

Don’t doubt God’s presence, power, or standard. Don’t succumb to the false narratives, temptations, and pressures of our culture. Don’t compromise or contort the historic truths of the faith to suit the spirit of the times. Pursue Christ and know that God’s justice is eternal, ultimate, and unavoidable. Don’t give up in despair, persevere in Jesus Christ!