Read Jeremiah 22:18–21

When you boil life down to the bare bones, the name of the game is change. Those who flex with the times refuse to be rigid. They resist the mould, and reject the rut—ah, those are the souls distinctively used by God. To them, change is a challenge, a fresh breeze that flows through the room of routine and blows away the stale air of sameness.

Stimulating and invigorating as change may be—it is never easy. Changes are especially tough when it comes to certain habits that haunt and harm us. That kind of change is excruciating—especially when it means acknowledging sin.

Sinfulness is a habit that is learned; it is contracted and cultivated by long hours of practice. I call it innate. The prophet Jeremiah confirms this fact in his prophecy about Jehoiakim:

“The people will not mourn for him, crying to one another, ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ His subjects will not mourn for him, crying, ‘Alas, our master is dead! Alas, his splendor is gone!’ He will be buried like a dead donkey—dragged out of Jerusalem and dumped outside the gates! Weep for your allies in Lebanon. Shout for them in Bashan. Search for them in the regions east of the river. See, they are all destroyed. Not one is left to help you. I warned you when you were prosperous, but you replied, ‘Don’t bother me.’ You have been that way since childhood—you simply will not obey me!” (Jeremiah 22:18–21)

Jeremiah explains why we so easily excuse our sin. We have become “learned in evil”...it has been our way “since our childhood.” It is vital—it is essential—that we see ourselves as we really are in the light of God’s written Word...then be open to change where change is needed. Sound impossible? It’s not. Read it. Accept it. Obey it. There’s no other appropriate response to truth.

Devotional content taken from Good Morning, Lord...Can We Talk? by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2018. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. All rights reserved.

The full devotional can be purchased at https://www.tyndale.com/p/good-morning-lord-can-we-talk/9781414380681.