Day 281 Bible Readings – Jeremiah 17: 9-10 (ESV)

Jeremiah 16-17, Colossians 4, Psalm 150

Jeremiah 17: 9-10 (ESV)

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Verses 9 and 10 from the prophet Jeremiah tells us not to trust your own heart and only trust in God. In the earlier verses, Jeremiah says you cannot trust people, and if you cannot trust people how can you even trust yourself. If we follow the dictates of our heart as the key to happiness, we will not find it. The people of Judah followed their heart’s desires and turned away from God, which Jeremiah saw during his lifetime. From watching the people of Judah turn away from God, Jeremiah concludes that following your heart is not a good thing. God tells Jeremiah that he searches, tests, and knows the heart and mind of every person. Pastor David Guzik remarks in his bible commentary on verse 10 that, “It is wise to trust what God says about us more than what we think or feel about ourselves.”

God made us. God planned us. God thought of us before we even entered our mother’s womb. God knows us best. And God will judge us, have mercy on us, and love us even when we cannot even love ourselves. I know for myself that I have deceived myself into thinking that God doesn’t pay attention to me, he doesn’t know how I feel, and what is really in my heart. And time and time again, God has shown me that he does me know me inside and out. God knows what I like and what I don’t like even better than I do myself. God’s taste in all things is definitely better than my own preferences, since I often choose things for the most foolish of reasons. So now I always check with Holy Spirit when I need to make a choice, always asking the question, “What choice does God want me to make?” And God is always right, even when the answer given doesn’t make sense. God has a plan for my life and if I just follow it instead of stubbornly clinging to my owns, my life runs so much better and is so much calm and peaceful.

Day 280 Bible Readings – Colossians 3: 12-14 (ESV)

Jeremiah 14-15, Colossians 3, Psalm 149

Colossians 3: 12-14 (ESV)

“Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

In verses 12 through 14 from Colossians 2, Paul tells the Church in Colossae how to behave if you have faith in Jesus Christ. Paul lists ways for how to treat people so we have good relationships with everyone around us. When I read this list they all seem to relate to what Jesus said in Matthew 22: 39, “And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Why wouldn’t you want a random person to treat you with a compassionate heart, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience? Why wouldn’t you want your family and friends to bear with you, forgive you if they have a complaint against you? Why wouldn’t you want the whole world to always have love in all their actions? Wouldn’t it be an amazing world if we did all these things? We would live in a more peaceful world and live in perfect harmony if we just followed the advice from Jesus Christ.

Day 279 Bible Readings – Colossians 2: 13-14 (ESV)

Jeremiah 11: 18-23, Jeremiah 12-13, Colossians 2: 6-23, Psalm 148: 7-14

Colossians 2: 13-14 (ESV)

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

Verses 13 and 14 from Colossians 2 shows Paul reminding the Church in Colossae of what they were before they came to faith in Jesus Christ. Paul tells us that before we came to faith in Christ, we are dead with our sins. Through our belief in Jesus, we are made alive together with him. Christ cancelled the debt of sins when he died for us on the cross.

I love this imagery of our sins being wiped by Christ’s death on the cross. I was at a Good Friday Service a few years ago, and they passed out papers for us to write down our sins. Then we were instructed to put them on large pieces of wood by nailing them with small nails. The pastor then told us after the service, they were going to burn the pieces of wood the next day with our pieces of paper attached to them. I love the imagery of our sins being burnt and destroyed on a cross or pieces of wood, the way Jesus wiped out our sins when he died on the cross. The kinesthetic feeling I also experienced of nailing my sin-filled paper to the piece of wood was overwhelming to me. I thought of Christ being nailed to the cross for my sins, and I was the one who was nailing him to the cross with my doubts and times of disobedience to him. It was such a powerful experience that I vividly remember to this day.

Day 278 Bible Reading – Jeremiah 10: 1-4 (ESV)

Jeremiah 9: 17-26, Jeremiah 10, Jeremiah 11: 1-17, Colossians 1: 24-29, Colossians 2: 1-5, Psalm 148: 1-6

Jeremiah 10: 1-4 (ESV)

“Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them for the customs of the peoples are vanity.  A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.”

Verses 1 through 4 from Jeremiah 10 shows God speaking through the prophet Jeremiah telling his people not to follow the ways of other nations. The people who do not believe in God believed in signs they saw in astrology and were in fear of the bad signs they sometimes saw. These people made their God out of a tree that was cut down, and then decorated with silver and gold and hammered down so it cannot move. These verses are also a reminder to us that if we do not have faith in God and Jesus Christ, we will worship a God of our own making. This “God” will only have the power we give it, but not true power like our God, the God of Abrahm.