God called Jeremiah to “serve” His people with a lawsuit because they thoroughly, repeatedly broke their contract with YHWH, their King. This man was the one chosen by his God to bring the news of destruction, death, exile, and eternal judgment upon his beloved people. God called him to a horrible task.

“Gird up your loins,” God told Jeremiah. In essence, He said, “prepare yourself for the hardest battle of your life. I AM asking you to doing hard things.”

Thankfully, we are not usually asked to do what was required of Jeremiah, but we are asked to do hard things. We are asked to live as Christ: serve with self-sacrificing love, seek the welfare of others above our own, walk through hard things with others, to love them enough to share the Gospel.

If you wear the name of Jesus, you are called to do all those things in real, sacrificial love. Do you love Him enough to “gird your loins,” prepare yourself for spiritual battle, and jump into the fray? Do you love your neighbor enough to begin hard conversations and risk rejection by sharing the Gospel?

God doesn’t expect us to be fearless. He expects us to come to Him and let Him give us a strength and boldness found only in His presence and through the knowledge of His overwhelming love and acceptance.

God calls the average and makes them triumphant warriors.

With the Lord, you can do hard things today.

Shalom.