I think what we need to do as believers today is appreciate what we have in the Lord and add to it.  Something is happening in the world in our day and I think that most people can attest to this.  Many times we do not understand what is happening.  We have ideas, or thoughts about what the problems are.  We think we have some solutions, but they may not be as effective as we think they will be if  in fact these ideas were implemented in our culture and our nations.  There is a  point where people will not do as God asks them to do.  In reading the book of Jeremiah I read where God’s people were totally rejected and forsaken and were led away to Babylon by their captors.  It was one generation (70 years) before the people began to return.  It was the children and grandchildren of those who were exiled who made the journey back to Judah and Jerusalem.  It was when they went into captivity that the people who were exiled made the decision that they were going to serve God only.  Before that time they were into all kinds of things that God had asked them not to do through his prophets and his word.

What about us?  We need to treasure what we have in God.  We can be free from sin and we need to take advantage of this grace given to us by Jesus through the Holy Spirit.  We have our needs met and we need to thank God everyday for his goodness and mercy.  We can talk to God directly and petition him.  We need to recognize what a privilege this is.  We have the ability to do what God has asked us to do through the Holy Spirit.  We need to seek the Holy Spirit in our lives and accept his conditions for us.  We’re not running our lives, He is.  If you are running yours then I think you may be in danger of going into captivity.  You may never be able to return to God.  The Bible says ‘the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom’.  Many Christians have not reached this point.  God is a teddy bear, a sugar daddy, for their wishes and excesses.  This is destruction for their soul.   God hasn’t changed his mind about sin.  The blood of Jesus does not excuse sin or cover for it forever.  We have to work at living the way God wants us to.  He provides the ability.  Any Christian who says that they do not have the power to refuse sin is in danger of being overcome by that sin.  They may  find themselves in a place they had never imagined they would be.  Just like the exiles in Jeremiah’s time.

We have teachers today who scratch our itchy ears, and tell us what we want to hear.as North American Christians.  We need to wake up and save ourselves in the midst of this ungodly generation.  ‘Work out your salvation with fear and trembling’, is the Bible’s admonition.