But are they?
Why is it our responsibility to be one who rocks the boat? Why should we push for change? The prophet Jeremiah speaks for the people of his culture. What situation are they in? Why is the prophet crushed?
Verse 20 talks about he way of life. Life has progressed as it usually does. The seasons move along – harvest is past and the summer is over. But nothing has changed. Life goes on as it has been. And the bad part of all this is that no one is saved. No one has had their lives improved.
And the prophet knows that he is part of this whole culture. As long as one person is suffering, then the prophet must suffer too. Others are crushed – crushed under the hopeless despair of the way things are, crushed under the pains of wrong decisions. And if others are crushed, then the prophet is crushed.
What about us? Is life in our society perfect? Are things moving along well for everyone, or are there people who are caught up in the pain and suffering of bad decisions?
If others are suffering in life, if society is not perfect, then life is not perfect for us either. We are crushed because others are crushed under the sorrows of life. Now we must be the ones who rock the boat, who speak out against the wrong decisions being made around us.
In our local culture we have seen the deaths and injuries of teen-agers, deaths and injuries that are caused by alcohol, drugs and reckless driving. We can tell ourselves that we are okay. It wasn’t our family member who was killed or hospitalized.
But the truth is that we are crushed because others are crushed. We must feel pain because others have been hurt. And now it is time for all of us who will call ourselves Christians and believers to speak out against the wrong decisions being made around us. It is time for the children of God to rock the boat and take actions that will stop the destructive decisions that have been accepted as part of life for far too long.
DAILY CHALLENGE: Are you ready to rock the boat and call for change?
