Jeremiah 17 - Life, Liberty And Pursuit of Happiness or Wealth?

Jeremiah has a lot to say in this chapter,,,

     The hearts of the people have sin engraved on them. They trust in things of this world. They lust after and trust in wealth. They will do anything to get it, depriving the poor, spending their very life and breath in the pursuit of wealth and happiness. The sooner we learn that the pursuit of money does not equate with happiness, the better off we will be. In the end we will lose any and all ill-gotten gain.

     Who can blame them? We all desire some joy and happiness in our lives. But, the truth is that these things do not come from wealth. They do not come from having "stuff." Real joy comes from being in relationship with others, with God. I have always appreciated that Thomas Jefferson changed John Locke's pursuit of life, liberty, and property, in the U.S. Constitution to the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. Property does not necessarily equate with happiness. Just think about the upkeep that goes with more property.. and, the taxes! Think about what happens when greed pervades society! All kinds of sin accompanies greed. Yet, multitudes have hearts so hardened like stone that greed and envy are engraved deeply into them. And... they are miserable! They desire more, but they do not know what that more is. 
   

Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay
    are those who gain riches by unjust means.
When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them,
    and in the end they will prove to be fools.

A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning,
    is the place of our sanctuary.
Lord, you are the hope of Israel;
    all who forsake you will be put to shame.
Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust
    because they have forsaken the Lord,
    the spring of living water." (Jer 17:11-13 NIV)

     In Ezekiel 36:25-27, God promises that He will remove our hearts of stone so that sin will no longer be engraved on them. "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws."

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
    and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jer 17:7-8)
 There is an answer to our loneliness and sorrow. The answer is Jesus Christ, our LORD, who loves us so much that He was willing to die for us. May God bless us with hearts filled with His love for Him and for one another.

God's Peace - Pr. J

1 Chronicles 21 - Counting People

David wants a census and there are some pretty dire consequences Israel is facing because of it.  Passages like this cause me a bit of concern.  The visible church counts people!  I'm not sure why we do.  There are a few possible reasons.  They have more to do with this kingdom; rather than the Kingdom of God.
    1.  Various denominations, that we might belong to, require us to turn in our numbers annually so that they can count their growth.
    2.  The states (countries) we reside in may require it as a part of our being registered as non-profit entitites.  Oh, you thought only churches in "other" countries had to be registered?  What would we call it then when we become non-profit entities in our respective states?  Are we not registering - asking permission to be the visible church?  How many building permits and health permits and other permits do we apply for in order to worship and fellowship together?
    3.  To adhere to our constitutions (required by states) we normally have set up guidelines to "count" our voting members.
    4.  And last of all, but not necessarily the least (or the worst excuse) is the fact that we count, we take a census, regularly (most churches every Sunday) in order to measure growth or loss.  If the growth is good - then we might begin to sit back a bit as we laud our "good work."  If instead of growth, we are seeing a loss, we gather together to try to figure out a way to make the census grow.  We come up with grand schemes to do "evangelism," which often isn't evangelism (proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom through Jesus the Christ); rather we plan gimmicks to help our numbers grow a bit so that our offerings will sustain the visibility of the Christian community (in other words the church building) wherever we are.

I like numbers.  I am a counter.  Often, I feel guilty about it; but, I keep right on doing it.  I try hard not to let the counting effect my ministry, what I do or how I do it.  At Zion, we've intentionally set up a system - sort of (I'm not sure God likes systems or trying to work around what He might not approve of).  We do not focus on making "members" of the congregation.  We focus on discipling.  We focus on sharing Jesus with others.  We focus on feeding God's sheep - whether they are a member of this congregation, another, or no congregation.  We minister to anyone and everyone - inside and/or outside of the church.  We have people who have worshipped with us and have been members of the "Body of Christ" for years, but they have never "legally" joined the church.  We don't care!   It is not about the census.  It is more about being family - children of a heavenly Father, brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ our Lord.  

No matter whether our numbers are up or down, all glory belongs to God.  I think that was a main point in this story with David.  Trust God.  Don't worry about the census.  God provides the growth.  And.. when David counts in spite of advise against it; David and all of Israel receives God's mercy.  Thanks be to God for His mercy is great.