Will God hold us accountable?
Some time ago I wrote a story about an Old Testament person named Jeremiah. God called this man to a special task. In that message, God allowed us to see a little pre-birth communication with this fetus. Perhaps Jeremiah agreed to God’s conditions by looking at the concluded part of his pre-existing life but when he was born, something changed his mind. Maybe the total rigor was more than he wanted.
He could look ahead and see the future time when this mission was done, but seeing the beginning was more than he wanted. “I’m too young,” he shouts.
He was already a priest and the beginning age for that was 30. Recently, I found myself waking up in a nursing home after emergency surgery. I don’t know what Old Jeremiah’s attitude was with God, but mine was not the best with those around me. I did not want to be there but that is exactly what I needed and where I needed to be. They had good people and great food, although seriously, they were good in every area.
With all the downtime I had, Jeremiah’s story came to mind and the fact that his mission was never completed. Israel did not come out of her sins and she was destroyed; Jeremiah kept his part of the agreement by teaching and telling. If he hadn’t taken this preaching assignment, God would hold him accountable for their deaths. How about that for pressure! As for Israel’s history, she lost that struggle but God had in mind that Jeremiah would save their souls. If they repented and changed God would rescue their nation. God had set these people aside to show the world who he was. Jeremiah was to spend the rest of his life telling and preaching that moral change must happen with them.
The only way one can change is to hear the good news, someone must tell us. The good news has not been completed with me either. I have not “taken the good news to the ends of the world.” Apparently, there is some connection to being God’s chosen person and the task of telling the good news. If it doesn’t continue with us, will God hold us accountable? The rest of the Bible says yes Cain.