“Reform Your Ways!”

“Reform Your Ways!”(II Kgs.25:8-12).
“…Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He set fire on the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. The whole Babylonian army, under the commander of the imperial guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had gone over to the king of Babylon. But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.”
The temple and the palace, icons of magnificence and all houses burned down!
The temple, the place of worship was burned down, because it had become a den of robbers, a place where people had become so comfortable in all kinds of sins.
Nobody heeded Jeremiah when he stood at the gate and asked the people to reform their ways. They instead ganged up against him and he survived only by the grace of God.
My friend, we have seen old people in small village congregations building gigantic churches almost all through their lifetime. While they are sacrificing by foreseeing a future exponential population increase, rural exodus is draining the youths to the cities and abroad. Once these youths are well settled abroad, they bring their parents – especially their mothers to come settle with them. Then the big church projects remain unfinished; worst still, the space remains wasted.
In my time as Chairman of the Central Church Building Committee of my Church, we emphasized that in other to curb this waste and not to overburden the villagers with white elephant projects, all plans for the building of a new church house must take into consideration the numerical and financial strength of the community; and that such plans should be submitted with required statistics to the Development Secretary for scrutiny. It is pointless to draw a plan for a 3000 seat congregation where the present worshippers are not up to 300 people.
That aside, our text reminds us that it is not the magnificence of the temple and our regularity of worship that satisfies God.
True worship is how much we see God’s image in the people around us. The things we idolize can be destroyed within the twinkle of an eye, and we can even be forced into exile as it is the case with majority people in the North West region of Cameroon.
The call to return to the LORD is never stale! It is as relevant today as it was then.
Our God is faithful and keeps to his words. He will do what he says he will do. Let’s be heedful.
Prayer: Holy Spirit help us not to harden our hearts as we hear God’s word. Amen!
Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang