We know that Facebook users love, love, love pictures. Why? Because a picture is worth a thousand words. And Why do people love to switch churches? They don’t want to be told: you are a sinner! They want their ears tickled so they feel good when they leave church. People don’t like a preacher or a Facebook post talking about sin but if we don’t talk about sin and its consequences then we are failing to bring the Good News and Good News begins with the bad.

God’s message to Israel and to lost sinners is this: “you will be uprooted and torn down, destroyed and demolished, rebuilt and firmly planted.” We all must go through the bad before we can experience the good.  And that is why many who are unsaved reject the gospel message. Yet, the truth is this: unsaved people are broken. God wants to restore them to wholeness.

God prepared Jeremiah, and us as well, to be His chosen vessels and it comes at a very hot price—God’s kiln. But, that is not all; God has commissioned Jeremiah, and now us, to carry His message that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. [Rom 3] Israel had forsaken God; people had then and now exchanged the truth of God for a lie. “Tough Love” words are needed because tough times call for a tough message.  You can’t know God’s “compassion, graciousness, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and faithfulness” character until you face the bad news of who you really are before God.

And this is why God chooses to use the ordinary to present His extraordinary message of repentance and restoration.  God is pleading, “come back to me” [Jer 3] Will you be God’s spokesperson?