"Above All Else"

"Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephriam: but chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved." (Psalms 78:67-68) Don't think for a moment that God has left you, because His love for you surpasses all that you can possibly do; He might change some of your surroundings, but He will still be right there, just as He always was. I hope we get the point of all of this, because God's love for His people is a powerful force to be reckoned with. There is more at work here than meets the eye, if you get my meaning. Actually, there is more that we don't see that happens than what we can see; even when we have on our spiritual glasses, we still only get a small glimpse of all that God is doing all around us. But the real bottom line has Jesus as the foundation; it's always been about Jesus, every last bit of every single line. It's all about God's redemption and mercy, for all who choose to accept it, regardless of who they might be or where they might be from or what sins they have committed; as long as they come to Jesus, they shall be redeemed! Yes, it's the only way, but it's not just because Jesus Christ is the only way, and He is; it's also because that is man's only way to be made right with God. It's not just about the Man, it's about the whole principle of God's providing forgiveness of sin, freely and base totally on faith in Him. What's so hard about accepting that? It should be easy, but it's not. It's not because we our so weak when it comes to having the faith required to accept what has been so freely given. It's not that the faith required is complicated, because it's not. But it's because we always seem to find a way to complicate God's simple plan of redemption...
"'Don't be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It's a lie! Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, "We are safe!" -only to go right back to all those evils again? Don't you yourselves admit that this Temple, which bears my name, has become a den of thieves? Surely I see all the evil going on there. I, the LORD, have spoken! Go now to the place of Shiloh where I once put the Tabernacle that bore my name. See what I did there because of all the wickedness of my people, the Israelites. While you were doing these wicked things, says the LORD, I spoke to you repeatedly, but you would not listen. I called out to you, but you refused to answer. So just as I destroyed Shiloh, I will now destroy this Temple that bears my name, this Temple that you trust in for help, this place that I gave to you and your ancestors. And I will send you out of my sight into exile, just as I did your relatives, the people of Israel.'" (Jeremiah 7:8-15) NLT