Love, Trust and Obey

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"Be amazed at this, O heavens!

Be shocked and utterly dumbfounded,”

says the Lord.

“Do so because my people have committed a double wrong:

they have rejected me,

the fountain of life-giving water,

and they have dug cisterns for themselves,

cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water.”

~ Jeremiah 2:12-13

From my morning devotions, Timothy Keller's Counterfeit Gods:

Idols as Lover:

Idols capture our imagination,

and we can locate them by looking at our daydreams.

What do we enjoy imagining?

What are our fondest dreams?

We look to our idols to love us,

to provide us with value and a sense of beauty, significance, and worth.

Idols as Savior:

Idols give us a sense of being in control,

and we can locate them by looking at our nightmares.

What do we fear the most?

What, if we lost it, would make life not worth living?

We make "sacrifices" to appease and please our gods,

who we believe will protect us.

We look to our idols to provide us with a sense of confidence and safety.

Idols as Lord and Master:

Whatever we trust, we also serve...

We can locate idols by looking at our most unyielding emotions.

What makes us uncontrollably angry, anxious, or despondent?

What racks us with a guilt we can't shake?

Idols control us, since we feel we must have them or life is meaningless.

"Come back to me, you wayward people.

I want to cure your waywardness...

If you, Israel, want to come back,” says the Lord,

“if you want to come back to me

you must get those disgusting idols out of my sight

and must no longer go astray.

You must be truthful, honest and upright."...

Yes, the Lord has this to say,...

“Like a farmer breaking up hard unplowed ground,

you must break your rebellious will and make a new beginning;

just as a farmer must clear away thorns lest the seed is wasted,

you must get rid of the sin that is ruining your lives.

Just as ritual circumcision cuts away the foreskin

as an external symbol of dedicated covenant commitment,

you must genuinely dedicate yourselves to the Lord

and get rid of everything that hinders your commitment to me"....

~ Jeremiah 3:22; 4:1-4

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