Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
Amid Judah's ruin and captivity the call is to examine conduct and turn from evil back to the Lord. That examining and returning was Jeremiah's constant prayer, and his appeal was for those who repented to return to righteousness. The searching required is of one's own heart and the correcting required is of one's own wrongs, rather than taking up the burden of correcting neighbors' wrongs and talking about them.
Spending time on the faults of others so that no time is left for self-examination leaves labor for good nearly thrown away. The same searching of one's own heart is the business of all church members, and it calls for a decided reform in the officers of the church. That business includes carefully considering the work of the past fifteen years and repairing the waste places.
Amid Judah's ruin and captivity the call is to examine conduct and turn from evil back to the Lord. That examining and returning was Jeremiah's constant prayer, and his appeal was for those who repented to return to righteousness. The searching required is of one's own heart and the correcting required is of one's own wrongs, rather than taking up the burden of correcting neighbors' wrongs and talking about them.
Spending time on the faults of others so that no time is left for self-examination leaves labor for good nearly thrown away. The same searching of one's own heart is the business of all church members, and it calls for a decided reform in the officers of the church. That business includes carefully considering the work of the past fifteen years and repairing the waste places.