Its about faithfulness, not religion - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Jeremiah 35:18-19,

"This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'You have obeyed the command of your forefather Jehonadab and have followed all his instructions and have done everything he ordered.' Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'Jehonadab son of Rekab will never fail to have a descendant to serve me.'"

This favorable prophecy for the Rekabites came as the Lord used their faithfulness to their patriarch as an illustration to contrast Israel's unfaithfulness to himself. Jehonadab, from the family of the Rekabites, told his descendants to never drink wine, never settle in houses and never farm. They were to remain tee-totaling nomads.

It was the faithfulness of these Rekabites to their patriarch that the Lord commended them... their faithfulness. What was it they were faithful about? Doing and not doing what Jehonadab told them to do. I want to be precise here to make a point. It wasn't that they never drunk wine, never lived in houses, or that they never farmed that they were commended by God per se, but rather, it was their faithfulness to their patriarch about those things.

All too often religious exercises, observances and activities within churches become disassociated with their origins. The original meaning for their exercises lost on a slavish adherence to religion. Ceremonial foot washing in the Seventh Day Adventist Church, the practice of Lent in the Roman Catholic church, etc.

I am entirely convinced that if a church adopted Jeremiah 35 as a focus, the concept of faithfulness would get lost in the shuffle of insuring all members never drank wine (or became farmers, etc.). Hopefully you get my point here. God highly regards faithfulness, the exact thing that would get lost as the do-gooders get us all focused on the dos and don'ts in a misguided effort to earn God's acceptance.

Loving God with all our hearts and being faithful to him can quite easily get lost in the mad dash to comply with the many things invented in our churches as religious exercises.

Just a thought...

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Trevor Fisk

trevor.fisk@gmail.com