What do you value most? (Jeremiah 52, II Kings 24-25)

¹³ And he burned the house of the Lord, and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down, Jeremiah 52:13

If someone burned down your house, how would you feel?  If someone burned down your church, how would you feel?  These two things took place at the same time in the days of Jeremiah the prophet.

I can honestly say, if my house burned down, I would be sad.   But I would move on because my home is my family.

I can honesty say, if our church burned down, I would be sad.  However I would still gather our congregation together because we are the church.

I will come back to this shortly, but for now, consider with me how important (valuable) was someone’s home and someone’s place of worship in the eastern mindset.  Ravi Zacharius sheds light for us:

“Make no mistake about it.  Every nation has its temples.  They either exalt the state and diminish the individual or exalt the individual, who by choice submits to the will of his creator,” Cited from Pg. 167, “Seeing Jesus from the East.”

For the people of Israel life and identity revolved around their homes and their place of worship.  This is why they defended these places at the cost of their own lives withstanding the enemy for over two years.  But in the end, they lost their homes and their place of worship.

Now here is the saddest part.  God had not been pleased with their worship for a long time.  The person they had come to worship was no longer the focus.  The place of worship was all that was sought.  In a moment it was all gone.

Question, if you lost your physical home and your physical place of worship, would you know how to go on?  I believe the Lord is pointing the church back to the reality of true worship.  True worship is about a person, not a place.  Heb. 10:10 “Jesus laid down His life for us.”  Today God wants to be Lord of your home and your heart (Matt. 22:37-38).

“God moved from the blood that flowed on the altars of mankind to the blood that flowed from the hill of Calvary, and, ultimately, to the life of God that flows in the heart.” Zacharias, Pg. 171.

Brothers and sisters, my walk with God and my walk with my family are the two most important things in my life.  I pray they are yours as well.