Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Ambition
- Ambition: We all need a goal to which we can strive. When our ambition comes from God, we find fulfillment in our obedience into that for which we have been equipped because our Out is in proper focus. But when our ambition comes from ourselves, we find ourselves chasing after our own dreams and trying to find fulfillment in accomplishments of our own making.
Here is
yet another confrontation between Jeremiah and Passhur. God tells Jeremiah to go and warn Passhur and
the Hebrew people about the coming destruction of the Lord. God is sending the sword. He is sending pestilence. He is sending famine. It’s not going to go well for the inhabitants
of Jerusalem.
But then
we hear God give the Hebrew people a choice.
Those who stay in Jerusalem will have to deal with the sword and
pestilence and famine. Those who dig
their heels in and stubbornly refuse to change their thinking will find God’s
wrath. Those who feel the ambition to
stick it out in Jerusalem will find a hard life. We can always chase after our own goals and
dreams and priorities. But when our
goals and dreams and priorities fly in the face of God, the pursuit of our
ambition will lead us into despair.
On the
other hand, God promises that those who willingly surrender to the Babylonians
will not suffer as much. Yes, they will
be the servants of Babylon for a while. But
they will remain alive. They will save
themselves! And now we get another
awesome hint at the universal plan of God.
Where is salvation to be found in this passage? Salvation is to be found in surrender of our
own ambition. Salvation is to be found
in the acceptance of God’s ways.
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