Influence That Is a One-Way Street

"Therefore, thus says the Lord, 'If you return, then I will restore you - before Me you will stand; and if you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become My spokesman. They for their part may turn to you, but as for you, you must not turn to them'" (Jeremiah 15:19)

Jeremiah was having a rough time of it as God's prophet, beloved! It seemed to him that Jehovah was being unduly long-suffering with His people and for himself, he had lost the fire of his calling. He had suffered great abuse at the hands of those to whom he took the word of the Lord and he was weary with the effort. What was joyful to him at the first had become a burden. In this glorious invitation from the heart of God to His servant, we discover a wondrous promise for ourselves today.

First of all, Jeremiah was urged to "return" to the Lord in his role as God's spokesman to His chosen people. Before God he would once again "stand" and receive the word from Him that His people needed so desperately to hear. Where else can we find a word for the people whom we would reach today, beloved, but from the heart of the One who loves them and sacrificed His only begotten Son for our sins?

Then, Jeremiah needed to "extract the precious from the worthless." What a tremendous need in our own lives daily! What foolish believer is there who would claim never to have imagined "worthless" thoughts or to have impulsively uttered "worthless" words? Whenever we do so, as Jeremiah had done here in his anger, we need to separate out the "precious" - our love for God and His unfailing grace in our lives - and let that be our motivation for faithful service. We deal with the "worthless" by repenting of it and casting it aside, never to pick it up again.

Finally, Jeremiah needed to see his labor in speaking for God as a "one-way street." He could not afford to allow those to whom he carried the word of the Lord to influence his thinking and his behavior. His was the role of being the influence and not of being influenced himself! That is precisely what Jesus meant when He said that we as believers are the "light of the world" and the "salt of the earth." It is we who must influence others with the truth of God's Word. And while serving God in this way, we must not allow our thinking and our behavior to become tainted by the attitudes and actions of the world around us.

Is your life in this world a "one-way street," beloved? Do you stand before God to receive His word for people and carry it faithfully to them? Is yours an influential lifestyle? Are you diligent to "extract the precious from the worthless" in presenting unto God a pure heart and unto people a steadfast example? Make your life today a "one-way street"!

Ron