The Week That Changed The World Devotional February 22
by David Joynt on February 22, 2024
Stress Test Devotional April 28
April 28, 2024
JEREMIAH 7:8-11 | 8 Here you are, trusting in deceptive words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, “We are safe!”—only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? I, too, am watching, says the Lord.
JOHN 2:16-17 | 16 He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
The Temple was compromised, according to Jesus, because like the fig tree, it was not producing fruit for the world. Some thought of Jesus as Jeremiah reborn because He was critical of the “theology of assurance,” many folks believed in His day. For them, the existence of the Temple with its ongoing sacrificial rituals and system of leadership was proof of God’s ongoing favor. Just as Jeremiah did, Jesus wants to challenge this concept. He asks the deeper questions: are lives being changed? Does the behavior of the worshippers and leaders reflect God’s values and integrity? If poor pilgrims are exploited and Gentiles excluded, the answer is no. Temples and churches can become places of empty assurance.
How do you measure the spiritual integrity of a faith community?
Gracious God,
Give us clarity of vision and a deep humility. Save us from a blind and empty assurance.
Amen.
