“Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” (Jer. 20:9)
I would ask that you look at the action part of that verse, those words that Jeremiah said, “nor speak any more.” I do not know how many born-again believers I have met in my life, it’s not because I have lost track, or even kept a written record of them, but because the majority of people that I meet in the world do not bring up the name of Christ, they do not initiate a conversation about Him. His words are not burning in their heart.
I interact for short periods of time online with those who attempt to defend a faith they may have in a particular eternal matter, but most generally when the Word of God is brought before them as the truth that it is, they either no longer respond or begin to become very defensive in their belief structure. It matters very little if they believe they will become one with the universe or if a certain religious organizations traditions are what they have been trapped in, sooner or later they stop speaking. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb. 4:12)
I have met many who like to say, “Now, remember, that means that sword can cut you also,” but they have little knowledge of that form of weapon. Swing it to the left or right, up or down, it will cut. Here is one of the keys, if you will, of our adversary in the days of the apostacy that we find ourselves in, do not speak, or you may find yourself in error, and thereby invoke the wrath of God upon yourself. These are not those who claim Christ as Lord but are too embarrassed to speak of Him in public, but those instead who are unsure about themselves, unsure of the interpretation of the Word of God that may be required to offer in any given conversation, and so instead of stepping out in faith and offering what they do believe in faith, they remain silent, even to the point of never, or very rarely at best ever initiating of conversation with another person about the Lord Jesus Christ and the position of that person’s soul at this moment in time.
It is in its own way a form of embarrassment in itself, yet at the same time a lack of faith in trusting that the Lord has placed that person in front of them because He has something He wants to say to them, and it is the Holy Spirit that speaks through us at these times. To put it bluntly, if you won’t, He will find someone who will.
Jeremiah is not only known as a man of many tears, but also perhaps as one of the most frustrated individuals in the Scriptures. He was told to preach truth, and at the same time told the nation would not listen to him. (Jer. 7:27) The easy route is the one that you have heard me speak of numerous times, simply show up to church once a week, keep yourself as unspotted from the world as you can, and consider yourself a Christian. No need for works befitting salvation (Acts 26:20) beyond that point, no need to share with others, especially strangers that love that you profess to have for Christ outside of the confines of your church, obey in part but never in full.
People want, in fact they would say need encouragement in their endeavors, but most will not take the risk of the possible failures that must come with the growth they are to have in the Lord, to these individuals the risk is not worth the reward. “But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.” (Matt. 13:8) I am sure that you realize that those who reaped one hundredfold put forth more effort, submitted more fully to the leading of the Holy Spirit, that much is self-evident, but now you must ask yourself this question about yourself in regard to Matthew 25:28, “Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.” I think you should finish this letter in your mind concerning yourself, we are to always be prepared to give an account of our faith to all that ask us of it, I am asking.
