Jeremiah 20:9 | being of God’s kingdom and not of this world + why not to be socially correct + being BOLD for Jesus

 

Scripture Spotlight  

If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.

Jeremiah 20:9 

I am currently reading in Jeremiah. Jeremiah is one of my favorite books in the Bible (aren’t they all?) and is one book I quote frequently in my posts and even in the academy (a.k.a. the super secret project). There are so many places and verses in Jeremiah that I could highlight and talk about but today I wanted to share this one. 

Jeremiah 20:9 has been at the forefront of my mind since I read it. I think it is such a good verse for us today in our world. The world does not love Jesus (“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.” —John 15:18) and since we are of Christ and are Christians there can be opposition against you. Now it may not be persecution like in the days of the martyrs but it can be something more like unpopularity or mean comments or less likes on instagram which does not at all compare to the martyrs yet it is something I have seen Christians fall away from or at least be silent on. There have been many people I’ve seen who claim the name of Christ but then are silent about their faith because it can make them not liked or less popular or socially incorrect (which is what you want because what is socially correct in our day is what is “worldly” which is against God’s kingdom so we shouldn’t want to be of “socially correct-ness” but that’s just me going on a tangent and being salty). 

I personally (you can take this with a grain of salt) think that this is wrong. I think it is wrong to be silent. I think it is wrong to hide your faith (hide your light under a bushel) when we are called to be a light and salt to the earth. 

Matthew 10:32-33 says: “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” 

Don’t do this. Don’t be silent. Don’t hide your faith—hiding your light. That is what I love about this verse. Jeremiah is talking about what it would look like to him if he stopped speaking the words of God. In him is like a burning fire, burning him from the inside out to speak out the words of the Lord. It is so much of a burning that he can’t keep silent. He has to speak and let the fire out. He has to proclaim what God wants him to say. He has to. He cannot keep it in and he cannot deny God. 

I want this in my life. I want God’s word to live inside of me so much that it is like a fire in me that must get out—that I must speak to others about and write about. I want God’s word to be living inside of me like what Jeremiah speaks about. 

Now I don’t think this is a call to be mean. We are still called to love our neighbors as ourselves and to love our enemies “[f]or we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12). We are still called to love people and to care for people. We are Christians which means in part to carry the example of Jesus Christ inside of us. What would Jesus do? Do that! 

Be bold for Christ! 

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