Jeremiah 7:8-11 – Living life for the audience of one

Here in Jeremiah 7:8-11, the prophet Jeremiah told the people of Judah how deluded they were to think that God would save them despite their treacherous acts. Deluded, they believed the messages of the false prophets that did not benefit them. This was evident in their behaviors. Their whole host of immoral acts included stealing, murdering,  committing adultery, swearing falsely, offering sacrifices of Baal, and pursuing unknown gods. Despite all these duplicitous behaviors they had the audacity to stand in God’s temple and believed that they were safe. Unwittingly, they had corrupted the house of God making it into a den of thieves. Nothing in their hypocritical lifestyle escaped the eyes of God who noticed everything they were doing.

To act contrary to what God had stipulated and yet feel safe is nothing short of being schizophrenic. The people of Judah were delusional. That’s what happens when a person is deceived. In these verses, we sense God’s call to live a life of congruence before Him. The obvious question to ask then would be how can I live congruently? 

There is a Latin phrase that can help us to live congruously before God. The  phrase is “Coram Deo.” It means “before the face of God” or “in the presence of God.”  know it or not, we all live in a world of heightened sense.  The motto for most people is: what makes you feel good and pleasurable just go for it. It’s hedonistic. But for us, Jesus reminds us that while we are in the world, we are not of this world. This world is not our home, we are just passing through.  If we are to live congruously before God in this sensory world we must learn to live “Coram Deo.”  

David in Psalm 139:1-4 tells us that God knows our character, our contemplation, our conduct, as well as our conversation. He said:

O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, You know it all.      

Beloved, we are ever in His presence. Let us live life “Coram Deo.”