Wednesday 5 October

Jeremiah 9:17-11:17

He was just a man after all.  Sometimes when we read this stuff I find I detach the likes of Jeremiah from the likes of me.  I approach it thinking he was a ‘prophet’ and so is leagues beyond anything I could ever become.  I allocate Jeremiah a place among the cloud-dwelling huddle of floating monks who in my imagination permanently exist in a state of ecstatic bliss.  I guess I think of them a little like the flying guys from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon except that they smile more and throw around holy scrolls rather than swords.  But Jeremiah was just a man after all.  He struggled majorly with what God required of him.  And it is no surprise really.  I am already a little tired of reading all these rebukes of the people of God but at least I don’t have to get up and speak them out every day.  Poor old Jeremiah had to get up day after day and declare trouble for everyone around him.  And I find great comfort in that.  I find great comfort in the fact that we can struggle with what is required of us and yet still be hugely effectively and hugely obedient in it.  Jeremiah spoke of his agony but ultimately he got to the place where he accepted that his life was not his own (10:23).  He knew what he would have chosen to do in his day but he also knew it was not for a man to direct his own steps and that a man’s life is not his own (10:23).  This sense of struggling to surrender to God is at the core of discipleship.  I know Jeremiah is just like me.  Now I want to become like him.

Colossians 1:24-2:5

Verses 28 and 29 are pretty hefty.  They are like a 100 ounce steak slapped down on the table in front of you, too big to fit on your plate and certainly too big for one sitting.  But even a nibble at their edges is like sweet nectar for the soul.  They inspire me to think of the people around me, the people in my house group and my friends from church and to consider what they would be like if they were perfect in Christ.  How would they walk and think and live and give?  And these verse assure me that they could become so.  Through the power of Christ working through me the people around me could become perfect in Christ.  I know - I sort of gag at the sheer audacity of writing it but it is the teaching of the bible so I have to accept it.  If I proclaim Jesus and can be ballsy enough to admonish others and teach them with all wisdom (once I’ve worked out what that means..) then I can see them becoming perfect in Jesus.  That’s a pretty awesome thought for this morning.  

Psalm 117:1-2

My favourite psalm.  Much better than those other ones that waffle on and on...