That it May go Well with You

Jeremiah 7:21-22 NIV

 

“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

 

There are many people today claiming Jesus as their Lord and Savior who are going through the motions of religious performance, but that is all it is, a performance, for they are not willing to obey the Lord Jesus and to do what he says. They put on a show of righteousness, but it is a show, for they deny the Lordship of Christ over their lives, and they do whatever they want.

 

Here is a scenario to consider: A woman who claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ is married to a man who claims not to believe in Jesus, who makes no profession of faith in Jesus Christ at all. They have children. Through a series of misfortunate events that take place they have now come under the scrutiny of local authorities and they are both accused of child neglect.

 

The children are removed from the home. And now the parents are being faced with the charges against them. The court finally decides to clear the mom but the dad is still awaiting his day in family court. And the mom now has custody of the children, but the dad has not been given the opportunity to see his children, which he says he hopes will change.

 

The mom is accusing the dad of child abuse. He denies the charges. But then she lets out that she knew of the alleged abuse for a long time, that the children had reported the abuse to her, that she had seen the marks on their bodies, but she did nothing. She not only did not report the alleged abuse, but she defended the dad a year prior to this when they were coming under the scrutiny of the authorities for child neglect at that time.

 

Thus, she knowingly did not report this to the authorities when they were being questioned the first time, but she allowed the alleged abuse to continue for at least another year, protecting her husband, but not her children, according to her own testimony, which is in writing.

 

Yet, she claims that she didn’t know that she should get the children out of that situation, even though she had years of good counsel in protecting her children. She thought God would just take care of it for her. But then she said that she knew God was leading her to stand up for and to protect those who cannot stand up for themselves, but again, she did nothing. And then she said that looking back she understands. She said, “I can be so dumb.”

 

Yet, she states that the first set of accusations against her and her husband were bogus, when the authorities were brought into the situation the first time, a whole year before the children were finally removed from the home. Even though she states that her husband was abusing the children then, and she knew about it, she felt that the accusations against them suggesting that they were neglectful of the children were, in her words, “bogus.”

 

And she attacked and accused falsely the ones who were trying to rescue the children, and who were trying to help the parents to be good parents. She accused them of a bogus report and of protecting her husband all the while, in her own words, “he was abusing them,” which was not available information at that time nor did it enter into that initial discussion at all. So, she basically accused the rescuers of her children with doing what she did, if indeed the accusations she is making against her husband are valid.

 

Now the children have been given back to her. And she is still attacking and accusing falsely those who tried to rescue her children and to help the parents to be good parents the first time the authorities were brought in. She sees them as the enemy while she makes excuses for her own behaviors, such as she could not leave the man she said was abusing her children because she was financially dependent on him for support. But she believes she is following God and that God will judge those who she feels came against her, i.e. those who were trying to rescue the children.

 

She, in fact, even gave a veiled threat to them: “There are consequences for believing and supporting the wrong person and trying to save him from the consequences of his actions.” But in her own words that is what she did when she supported her husband and she did nothing to protect her children from the abuse she claims was taking place, whether or not her accusations against her husband are true. But she believes she is following God.

 

Jeremiah 7:23 NIV

 

“But I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.”

 

The woman in question here in this scenario claims she is following God with her life and that she is obeying him. Yet she is attacking fellow Christians for trying to rescue her children and for trying to help her and her husband be good parents at a time when, as she now admits, was a time that she was fully aware of the alleged abuse but she did nothing to report it, even when the authorities were in her home checking to see if the children were safe.

 

This is not representative of someone obeying the Lord, but of someone going through religious performance all the while not doing the will of God, and not listening to the Lord, and not protecting the innocent, but then threatening, falsely accusing, and attacking other Christians who were trying to help her and her husband to be good parents and who were trying to help rescue the children from a situation which was a very serious threat to them.

 

That says to me that she put herself and her security above the safety of her children both a year before the second time they came under scrutiny for child neglect and the second time a year later. And even now, nearly a year later than that, she is still not taking responsibility for her actions but she is casting blame and veiled threats on those who were trying to protect the children and to keep them safe.

 

So, it doesn’t matter how religious you are, or what preachers you listen to, or what songs you sing, or what “church” you attend, or how faithful you are to your “church.” If you don’t obey the Lord, and if you choose self over the safety and security of others, especially children, and if you choose self-preservation over the protection of those being put in harms way, then you are not obeying the Lord, but you are living for self.

 

Jeremiah 7:24-26 NIV

 

“But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their ancestors.”

 

And the sad reality in all of this is that there are many people today who are claiming to be followers of Jesus who are followers of self, instead. They are more concerned about what happens to them than they are concerned about what happens to the innocent and the unprotected and the abused. And if they are confronted with their sins, they will attack their accusers, and they will make excuses for their behaviors rather than humble themselves before God in genuine repentance and sorrow over their actions.

 

Saving their own skin is more important than truth and righteousness. Protecting themselves and their secrets is more important than loving others with the love of Christ, even innocent children. Usually this happens when people have something to hide that they don’t want people to find out about, so they will attack anyone who gets too close and who has the potential to expose their secrets. And the sad thing about this is that many who are professing faith in Jesus Christ are the ones who are doing this.

 

All I Ask of You

 

by Andrew Lloyd Webber

 

No more talk of darkness,

Forget these wide-eyed fears;

I'm here, nothing can harm you,

My words will warm and calm you.

Let me be your freedom,

Let daylight dry your tears;

I'm here, with you, beside you,

To guard you and to guide you.

 

Let me be your shelter,

Let me be your light…

 

Love me, that's all I ask of you

 

*To love Jesus is to obey him. If we do not obey him, we do not love him. He wants us to come out of the darkness into his wonderful light, to stop trusting in ourselves and in the lies we tell ourselves, but to put our trust in him alone and in his truth and righteousness. He wants us to find our freedom in him, not in the lies people tell others to try to cover up wrongdoing. And he wants to be our shelter, and for us to NOT find our protection in the lies people often tell themselves and others.