Going Backward Instead of Forward

Jeremiah 7:23-24: "I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you. But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward."


We have all heard the old saying "two steps forward, three steps back" when referring to vain attempts of making progress in something. In the life of the Israelites of the days of Jeremiah, these people were making no attempts whatsoever at Godliness. There were no steps forward . . . only steps backward. They were feasting upon their selfish, sinful desires with no thought whatsoever to surrendering to the LORD. Sadly, they believed that their participation in religious services justified themselves to the LORD; but once they performed their "religious ritual" they were done with God.

Those who truly have been transformed by the saving grace of God will evidence this wonderful, Divine work in their lives by living lives of surrender and obedience. This certainly is the command given to us by the Almighty when He tells us, "Prove by the way you live that you have really turned from your sins and turned to God. Don't just say, 'we're safe.' That proves nothing . . ."(NLT). "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance." (NIV). Luke 3:8.

And lest we believe that we are not able to live our lives free from sin and self-centeredness, the LORD tells us that "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires" (2 Peter 1:3-4). We therefore have no excuses.

Let's not follow the pattern of life modeled by the Israelites in Jeremiah's day. Let us not take a few steps forward in obedience and maturity in our faith, only to fall back into the pattern of worldliness that is so typical of a person of ego-centrism and carnality. Instead, let us keep pressing forward in obedience until the day of our full redemption in eternity.