vs. So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness

Roots hold plants and trees firmly to the soil from which they get their nourishment. We are to be rooted in Christ the same way. If we are rooted in Christ, nourished by the truth of His Word, the Bible, we will be strengthened in Him, overflowing with thankfulness, AND, we will bear Christ-fruit in every area of our lives – work, play, marriage, friendship and ministry.

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

We were people in sin. Yet, God, the Injured Party, made peace with us through the sacrifice of His Son. Don’t miss this: HE CHOSE TO MAKE PEACE! The Holy God of the universe chose to make peace with sinful man. He is our example, and He has commanded us to do the same. “If possible, as much as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Romans 12:18

vs. 14-16 However, the days are coming,” declares the LORD”, when men will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ but they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them. for I will restore them to the land I gave their forefathers.” But now, I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, ” and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks. My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.

The Lord is pronouncing absolute devastation on Israel for her idol worship, but even in this dire prophecy is a promise of hope. Someday, He will rescue them again, and bring them home. Our promise of Hope is in the sacrifice of Jesus. When we come to the cross and acknowledge the price paid for our sins, we repent, and we find there, our true home in the Living God.

vs. 1 Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them away from my presence!…

These are obviously some pretty hefty credentials, and men whom GOD Himself honors, Moses and Samuel. But, then go to the end of the chapter, vs 19 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; Repentance brings restoration: we go from “don’t even talk to me about these people”, to “repent and be restored”. In all of Scripture, Old Testament and New, the underlying message is the same: repent and be restored. I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Then the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people.

H.m.m.m…do not pray for the well-being of this people. The die is cast. The judgment is pronounced and on its way. Sometimes we find it hard to pray for someone because we don’t know how to pray for them. This verse tells me God knows all about them and already has a plan in mind for them. Maybe, then, when we don’t know how to pray for a particular person, all we need to do is to mention their name in prayer, trusting God to do, and to answer, according to His plan.