'Insane' Christians

No this isn't about the tragedy of mental disease, nor of the way the world sometimes views committed believers. It's about how Christians sometimes behave in ways that are simply crazy, that are spiritually insane. Let me explain.

I've been reading through Jeremiah and it is amazing to me how often Jeremiah had to repeat the same message. He did it over a period of years to various kings and to the leaders and the people, but they ignored him. Finally, as he had predicted, the armies of Babylon surrounded Jerusalem. Suddenly King Zedekiah sought Jeremiah out in private. Jeremiah gave him the same message he'd given before: surrender and your life and the city will be spared. Zedekiah hesitated. Jeremiah reminded him that what he had predicted for years, contrary to what all the popular prophets had been declaring, had come true. Jerusalem was under siege. Did the king think the rest of what he predicted would somehow not come to pass? The king departed and we later learn he refused to surrender, Jerusalem was conquered and destroyed, his family was killed, and Zedekiah was taken off into exile. Just as predicted.

Zedekiah must have thought that there were odds on whether God would keep his word, and thought he'd settle for the odds. Frankly that's insanity. It's crazy. What God promises, he will do. What he says will come to pass.

OK, what about us? Don't we as Christians sometimes do the same thing? Don't we sometimes think that doing what God says is optional, or that we'll 'beat the odds' and get away with what God has warned us not to do?

Let's get personal. Can you think of a time when God set out a clear boundary to you but you felt you could somehow get away with ignoring it? Or can you recall a time God pointed out a specific responsibility to you but you treated it as optional? Have you ever become aware of something God demands of you and then decided to take your chances that God would forget what he required?

That's crazy. It's insane. What God promises he will do. What he says will come to pass.

Jesus said,

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.
“Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.” (Matthew 7:24-27, NAS)

It isn't only wise to do what God says. It is crazy not to. Let's never let ourselves be fooled and end up acting insane. Let King Zedekiah be a lesson to us.