Jeremiah laments his calling as a prophet of God. He was ridiculed for his message of condemnation, yet he felt compelled to share the message he’d been given. Although everyone mocked Jeremiah, he knew that God “tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind”. His passion and persistence are a great example to us, especially since we know that “we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand”. Our life, like Jeremiah’s, requires faith and reliance on God, as well as an outward demonstration of that faith.
We can rejoice that we have been reconciled to God through the death of Christ, since his actions “leads to justification and life for all men”. We have voluntarily died in the waters of baptism, to live a new life “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus”. So we are encouraged by Paul to not let sin reign in our lives, but instead become slaves to God under the grace He has offered us.