Lamentations 2:15
“All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?”
Have you ever taken a trip to see something that was supposed to have a significant place in history only to be disappointed? Several years ago, my wife and I took a trip to Plymouth, Massachusetts, to see the first rock that the Pilgrims stepped upon when they came onto American soil. When we got to the place where the rock was, we were so disappointed because it was nothing that we imagined it to be.
In the verse above, this is what Jeremiah said would happen to Zion. He said that one day people would come to visit Zion, “The perfection of beauty,” and they would be disappointed. He said that they would come and wag their head and hiss because of the disappointment.
What would cause people to be so disappointed? Sin was the cause of the disappointment. Zion was once the “perfection of beauty” but sin took it away. It was sin that caused them to lose their joy. Sin is what caused them to go into captivity. What could have been a place that people visited to see what the LORD was doing through them became the place where people would come to see what the LORD had done to them because of sin.
There are many places like this all over the world. I have gone to visit many churches where God used to bless only to be disappointed in what the place became. I visited the great Highland Park Baptist Church to see what the LORD had done through Dr. Lee Roberson only to see a place where buildings were no longer in use and an auditorium that was mostly empty. What caused it? The compromise of a preacher who thought that the old paths that Dr. Roberson walked, practiced and used to build that great church were out-of-date. What once used to be a soul-saving station has now become a relic of history.
Friend, you will either be a testimony of what God is doing through you or you will become a relic of history. The fear that every Christian should have is that God would take His blessings from them. You should live in such submission to the will of God that sin has no lure to your flesh. You should desire God’s presence so deeply that the call of sin is so distant that you cannot hear it. You will not be a testimony of God’s power on accident. Being the testimony of God’s power will only come by walking with God in the Scriptures and prayer, and yielding to the Holy Spirit on an every moment basis.
You are one decision away from being turned from a testimony of God’s power to a relic. All it takes is yielding one time to sin’s temptation. One decision not to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit will turn you into a relic. One choice to follow temptation will take the blessings of God away and relegate you to a relic. Every Christian is one step away from becoming the relic of history, and the Devil knows it. Don’t you forget it!
Let me encourage you to daily beg God to help you to be a testimony of His power. Beg God daily to keep you from the moment of temptation or the bad decision that would turn you into a relic. Constantly yield yourself to God’s will and the voice of His Holy Spirit. Always keep in mind that when people see you that you will either be a testimony of God’s power or a relic of history. Don’t become the relic!