Is Your Life Hard? Meet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah had it rough. 

From a small town within a stone's throw of a metropolitan area, his job was to tell people what they didn't want to hear.  He was the bearer of bad news. His message was unwelcome and unpopular.  

Essentially, he told the people that they needed to change their way of life.   But, not only did they need to stop doing bad things, they needed to start doing good things.

But, even that wasn't the crux of his message.  The core of his message was this,  

Above all, your heart is desperately sick.  You can't just change what you are doing.  You need inside-out change.  You don't just need information and inspiration.  You need transformation.  Jeremiah 17 (my paraphrase)

Jeremiah saw his nation sliding toward ruin.  He had the answer for them, 

Turn away from yourselves and your idolatry, and turn to God.

But people wouldn't listen to him.

• In the temple he was rejected (Jeremiah 7:1-8:3; 26:1-11)
• In his hometown he was refused (Jeremiah 11:18-23)
• In his ministry he was reviled (Jeremiah 20:1-6; 37:11-38; 43:1-7)

He never married, only had two people respond favorably to his message, and most likely died in Egypt where he was taken by his countrymen after all that he predicted actually happened.  

Jeremiah had it rough.  The key characteristic of his life was not one of success, not in the way that we typically think of success.  The key characteristic of his life was perseverance.

Jeremiah would not shrink back from God's call upon his life.  

Perhaps you can identify with Jeremiah.  Perhaps your life seems particularly challenging.  Perhaps it seems like you hit crisis after crisis.  Would you like to develop character like Jeremiah?  Character to weather the storms of life with confidence and peace?  Meet me here tomorrow and I'll let you in on how Jeremiah developed the character to persevere through the trials of life.