October 22
Jer 39:1-41:18 | PS 90:1-91:10 | Prov 26:1-2 | 2 Tim 1:1-18
Perhaps you have never really felt truly loved. Worse than that perhaps you have felt used. The disparity could not be any greater, but if you live for this world, like it or not, you are a pawn. Those in power care little for any of us. None of them will shed a tear if you live or die, succeed or fail. Should we find our nation attacked, even with nuclear weapons, those in power already know where they will run and how they will protect those they truly care about, and won’t give any of us a second thought as we face devastation. On the flip side, if you live for God and have entered into a relationship with Him, you will be loved, really loved, supernaturally loved. He cares, truly cares. Since He created you in the womb, He has never stopped caring. Most of those in power would be unwilling to lose a penny of their income for you. But we read of Jesus, John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” And we read again of the Father’s love in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
So, we read of the king of Judah, once he realized things in Jerusalem were over in Jeremiah 39:4, “So it was, when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, that they fled and went out of the city by night, by way of the king’s garden, by the gate between the two walls. And he went out by way of the plain.” Now he was eventually caught and punished, but as he ran for his life with his family, he didn’t give the citizens of Judah, who he supposedly represented, a second thought. For Zedekiah, it was “looking out for number one”. Though Jeremiah was treated horribly during the Babylonian siege by the king and the leaders, he was released and respected afterwards. Jesus said in Matthew 19:30, “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” Paul realized this, as we read in 2 Timothy 1:12, as he sat in a Roman prison, “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”
So, the choice is yours. Cast your hope and trust on whom ever you wish. If it be anyone in the world, despite all of their promises, their promises will often one day show to be empty. But, Jesus offers eternity. Though it is easy for us, it cost Him, His life. That is the depth of His love for you and me. So, as for me, I will stake my hope and trust in Him. For no matter what happens on earth, loss of profession, loss of friendships, loss of money, even loss of life, Jesus has promised me much more in His kingdom, and I believe Him.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: