Jeremiah 2-3

(January 14, 2015)

                A good portion of these chapters was on the issue of ‘backsliding’ – an important topic for each of us.  There is no doubt that while we hope to be regularly and steadily progressing, it seems to be part of the human experience for all save Christ to make progress and then backslide.  Then, hopefully, make progress again.

                Understanding this, then, we see a number of important considerations that are addressed here.  We need to maximize the time we are progressing when we are progressing – we want it as productive and as long as possible.  We need to minimize the time we are backsliding when we are backsliding – and we want our backsliding to be as little as possible.  

                So when we are backsliding (whether intensely or even trivially), the Lord here tells us what we must do.  We must confess our sins to Him.  So many times, our backsliding becomes more severe (and I can speak from experience) because we choose to minimize what we are doing, to justify it, to categorize it out of the realm of sin and into the realm of ‘vice’ or ‘foible’ or ‘weakness.’  Or, sometimes, we point the finger of blame at others rather than engage in the introspection necessary to deal with our faults.

                So long as we are covering our sins, we are not opening our hearts to Grace to stop our backslide and return to the Lord.  Once we acknowledge, firmly and unflinchingly, when and how we have failed we open ourselves up to the support of the Lord sufficient to return to Him.