Redemption is for Everyone

Babylon

This is what the LORD says: “As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the people of Judah from among them. But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country. And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’—even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among my people. – Jeremiah 12:14-16

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 12-14; 1 Timothy 1

I can’t imagine what it must have been like to hear this message from God. Jeremiah asked God why is it that He allows the unjust to prosper and then He responds by telling him not only that this injustice is why Judah will fall but also that if those who take over Judah follow him then he will establish them among his people!

That must have seemed unfair. Aren’t the people of Israel the chosen ones? Why would he do something so special for those who conquer his people?

The idea that God causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, has always perplexed me. How is this fair? How is it just? I don’t quite understand it. Perhaps this reveals the limits of my understanding of justice and fairness.

But what is clear to me is how loving this notion is. God loves everyone the same whether they do good or bad, no matter who they are. This may seem wrong. Why wouldn’t God have more love for those who do good and less for those who do bad? It’s because no one is perfect; but also, no one is beyond redemption. This is true with his people the Israelites just as much as it is true with all of the rest of us.

God has given all of us an inheritance. He has bestowed a purpose on the lives of each and every person who inhabits this earth. Some choose to walk along that path and some do not.

The choice is ours.

Even when we do bad God may continue to bless us. This gives us another day, another opportunity to realize the folly of our ways and to turn away from them and into the light. As long as we are still breathing we have an opportunity to make a change.

I know that I spent my fair share of time in the dark. I’m just thankful that He gave me a chance to come back into the light.