Always Faithful

Jeremiah 50:20 - "In those days," says the Lord, "no sin will be found in Israel or in Judah, for I will forgive the remnant I preserve."

I love this.  Despite Israel and Judah's terrible sins against God, and His righteous punishment of them, God has promised to forgive everything and restore them to their land that He promised so long before through Abraham.

If there is one thing to love about God (there is so much more, but I'm focusing on just one thing for now), it's His faithfulness to His chosen people.  Despite our numerous shortcomings and sins through the centuries, He is always willing to forgive and forget.

The sins that Israel and Judah committed prior to their exile were really bad.  They worshiped idols, and basically blew God off.  That's about as personal as it can get.  Yes, He punished them.  He had to.  But He forgave them and restored them.  He never gave up on them or blew them off.  He forgot their sins and never counted them against them again.  Even though He sent them into exile, He was still with them and looking out for them, holding true to His promise to Joshua to always be with them wherever they went (Joshua 1:9).  Who does that?  A loving God that is always faithful, that's who.

But how does this apply to us?  Well it applies to all God's children.  Everyone who has called on the name of God to be saved and redeemed by believing and trusting in His Son Jesus Christ have become God's chosen people.  Paul tells us in Romans that the power of God at work through the Good News of Jesus Christ is available for the Jews as well as the Gentiles (Romans 1:16).

God wants ALL of us to have a deeply personal and intimate love relationship with Him.  And when we are committed to Him, He has promised to remove our sins from us as far as east is from west (Psalms 103:12).  He promises not to just forgive, but also forget (Isaiah 43:25, Hebrews 8:12).  He does this so that we can also move past our mistakes and shortcomings as He has, and focus on our new relationship with Him.

A lot of people say that they need to get their lives together before they can get saved.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  He doesn't require us to change before we come to Him.  He wants us to come to Him so we can be changed (Romans 12:1-2).  If we try to change ourselves before we come to Him, we would still be incomplete, and unsaved.  We would still require the healing and forgiveness that only He can provide.

A big problem with trying to do things by our own strength (which will never last), is that we tend to get prideful.  We start to believe, "I did this myself.  I don't need God after all."  As Jesus said, "I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent" (Luke 5:32).  Pride is a dangerous impediment to our salvation.  None of us are righteous on our own.  Nor will we ever be (Romans 3:10).  The Good News is that we don't need to be righteous to come to God on our knees in humble confession and repentance.  We just need to come to Him, and He is always faithful to begin a work in us that will lead us into righteousness.  A work that will be completed when we enter into His Kingdom forever (Philippians 1:6).  Just come.

Abba Father, I thank You for Your faithfulness.  Thank You for always being faithful to Your chosen people when we have done everything we could to run in the opposite direction from You.  Your love and mercy are too great for words, especially any that could come from me.  I pray for those that haven't come to You yet.  Perhaps they believe they are too far gone, or they believe that they need to fix themselves before they can be presentable to You.  My prayer is that they will stop trying to wash themselves, so they can be cleansed by the blood of Your Son Jesus that was shed for that purpose, to make all of us brand new.  I pray that we all come to You every day on bended knee seeking Your forgiveness and for Your will to be done in our lives.  In the name of Jesus Christ I ask this, Amen!



God Bless!!!