In the “Book of Books” program this month, we study The Book of Jeremiah. He is unusual among the Hebrew prophets because of the extent to which he revealed his personal feelings. Whereas others delivered their oracles without disclosing much of their inner selves, Jeremiah effectively lays bare the turbulent emotions of a man selected somewhat against his will to be God’s spokesman to his generation. Very little is known of his early life apart from information in 1:1. He was probably born about 640 BC at Anathoth, some three miles north-east of Jerusalem, being descended from priestly stock. There is no evidence that Jeremiah had either been trained for the priesthood or had officiated in such a capacity. Yet there can be little doubt that he was aware of the responsibilities which the priests traditionally exercised in connection with the Law.
“Letters to young Churches”: It is surely a remarkable accident, if not the providence of God, that these human, un-self-conscious letters of the very early days of Christianity should have been preserved. What is even more remarkable is their astonishing relevance today. It seems that the men who wrote these letters concentrated upon the essential spiritual core of human life. They provide that spiritual vitamin, without which human life is at best sickly, and at worst dead. While scarcely touching any “modern problem” they yet manage to give pointers of principle which show the way, and the spirit, in which the problems of an even highly complex age such as ours may be tackled successfully. To the writers of these letters this present life was only an incident. It was lived, with a due sense of responsibility, as a preface to sharing the timeless life of God Himself.
We continue to study the life of Jesus Christ and His treatment of other people around Him. Jesus was respectful to sinners, though he denounced sin in all. He had no patience with hypocrisy, whether found in friend or enemy. He did only those things that were right and never left undone one thing that should be done. He did all that He came to do and finished the work the Father assigned to Him. Jesus did good to all men, whether they were his friends or his enemies and He stood always ready to lift people to a higher plane and point them to higher ideals.
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