Day 217/365- Jeremiah 26:8, 23

"The cost of truth"

But when Jeremiah had finished his message, saying everything the Lord had told him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people at the Temple mobbed him. "Kill him!" they shouted. (Jeremiah 26:8 NLT)

They took him prisoner and brought him back to King Jehoiakim. The king then killed Uriah with a sword and had him buried in an unmarked grave. (Jeremiah 26:23 NLT)

What would you do if your church service ended tomorrow morning with the execution of the preacher by the congregation? A lot of people disagreed with his teaching & so it was time for him to go. Seems a little harsh right? I mean, I've given some bad sermons in my day but not that bad! At least I hope not that bad.

This is where Jeremiah finds himself. He has told the people what God directly told him. He was just the messenger. And yet the message was not one that the people wanted to hear. So what did they decide to do? Take his life. But God protects Jeremiah & the people are not able to kill him after all.

But this isn't the end of the story.

There is another prophet saying the same things as Jeremiah. He is also delivering the words of the Lord. But have we ever heard of him? Uriah gives the same message as Jeremiah & this time the results are different. It does in fact cost Uriah his life. And for what? Simply delivering a message to the people from God. All he did was declare the truth.

All around the world & for centuries past, men & women have given their lives for the truth. They were willing to stand & declare the truth of God, even if it cost them their lives. And for many of them, it did.

The call to follow Jesus is a call to radical commitment to the truth. Not so that we can be right but so that God can be exalted. So that the gospel can go forth. So that people may be brought out of darkness & into the light.

We tend to want the Jeremiah type of results in our lives. Stand up for truth, maybe face some backlash, but make it out unscathed in the end. And that may be the result for many of us. But how many of us will share the fate of Uriah? How many of us will be hated, rejected, & ultimately killed for our stand for the truth?

Our world hates Christ & the times for tolerance of Christ followers is coming to an end in this country. We will be faced with many opportunities to turn from God & his truth. The question is what are we willing to pay for the truth?