JEREMIAH 42:1-6 – “Then all the commanders of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, came near and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Let our plea for mercy come before you, and pray to the LORD your God for us, for all this remnant—because we are left with but a few, as your eyes see us— that the LORD your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do.” Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to the LORD your God according to your request, and whatever the LORD answers you I will tell you. I will keep nothing back from you.” Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us. Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.””

THEME OF THE DAY: MEASURING OUR LOVE FOR THE LORD.  There is an amazing simplicity in living the Christian life.  Now don’t mistake simplicity with easy.  Nothing is easy about the Christian life, and the quickest way to establish that truth is what Jesus states are the three requirements to be His disciples:

“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:23-26).

Not only does the Lord give the requirements to follow Him but also the consequences of not following Him.  But the simplicity in the Christian life is seen no clearer than in what Jesus states is the measurement of our love to Him.

First, what Jesus says love for Him is not . . . professing we do or singing we do. Those have their place in loving God, but not the primary place.  The simplicity of loving God is defined powerfully and simply by Jesus in the Upper Room Discourse . . .

“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (John 14:21).

 So, how do we love God?  We obey Him. We take His Word seriously and intentionally obey it.  And that without question or based on our circumstances. That ties us into today’s scripture. Pay attention to how God’s people approached their obedience to the Lord – Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God.

Here is the proper approach towards obedience.  We obey whether our circumstances seem or feel good or not.  Why? Two reasons: God is worthy to obeyed, and God is good meaning that everything is good, even if it appears bad.  And that is what love does, love to God . . . may we be such a simple people obeying because we love Him.

PRAYER:  Father, may I see the greatest privilege in my life is obeying You as it gives me the assurance of loving you.

REFLECTION:  We obey God regardless of circumstances because He is worthy, and the God of our circumstances.