Yesterday we talked about the dangers of counterfeits. Have you ever unknowingly passed counterfeit bills? I haven't, but I know of people that that's happened to...and the consequences seem a bit unfair to me. If you pass a counterfeit bill and it's spotted by an astute clerk, you're the one who gets to come up with real money to replace the counterfeit. You're the one that gets shorted by the crime. And when we unknowingly or through lack of attention get taken in by counterfeits thrown at us by the world that steal us of the truth of God, we're the ones who get shorted! We're the ones that have to look to God and say, "I got duped!" Now, THAT has happened to me...and I really want to be much more mindful of the "goods" that I'm accepting into my life now and screen out all the counterfeits that are going to rob me of God's real and good gifts that He has ready to give to me.
One consequence of accepting counterfeits in our lives is that it leads us into slavery - slavery to the sin that so easily entraps us, an entrapment that sometimes holds us tighter and longer than we could have imagined when we fell into it. When we get caught up in sinfulness, we take serious setbacks in our relationship with God, setbacks that can be recovered, but not without a lingering guilt that our enemy will be able to use against us long after our sin has been forgiven. Much like leaving artillery and military equipment in an area troops have departed from, we have left effective weapons for our enemy to use against us in the future. Knowing what we have left behind gives us the ability to counter those future attacks, with the knowledge that the Holy Spirit within us is on our side. But the attacks will come, and had we never accepted the counterfeit, we could avoid those particular battles. This is not the life that our Father God wants for us...He would love to see us living lives free of unnecessary battles. That's why idolatory in our lives, choosing counterfeits over Him, makes Him angry....He knows the consequences.
Idolatory, which as I stated yesterday I believe is most often self-worship, can take many forms and come to us via many different avenues. There are warning signs, though. The words, "I want", "I feel", "I think this or this or this will make my life just a little bit better”, and when those things are superfluous to our actual needs or the needs of our family, we should stop and analyze what is driving that desire. If it's something that really, truly is going to be good for us and our family, and prayer confirms that direction, feel good about it and move forward. But if, after prayer and asking for God's clarity, we realize this is something that is really self-serving, self-pleasing and our motivation for the change, purchase or the course of action we're about to take is anything other than God-pleasing, we need to abandon it quickly and ask God to set our feet on His right path that leads us to lives of freedom and peacefulness, rather than the captivity and turmoil that our enemy would love to see us entrapped in.
Jeremiah's audience had opted for the "I want", "I feel", "I think" mentality....”I want what they say Baal can get for me...all the stuff!" "I feel that God's way isn't working for me, and I need to explore other ways to have a better life." "I think offering children on an altar may be the thing that changes our lives!" While Jeremiah is saying, "STOP! You're accepting lies and counterfeits and God has given you the truth! Follow Him! Abandon your man-made idols and turn back!"
We are to want God and His plans for us, feel His love, and train our minds to take every thought captive for Him. Back to surrender of self - all about bowing to Him.
Do you wonder why our idolatory makes God so very angry? It's like when our kids deliberately do things we've told them not to and we can see the very hard path they're headed for...we want to shake them and tell them how stupid they are being, because we know the heartache they could avoid if they will listen to us. Well God loves us more than we love our children, and His shaking can feel pretty rough at times and His chastisement can sound hurtful ("the whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge"...that's pretty much the same as stupid, isn't it?) - but He loves us enough to get our attention. And just like we embrace and hold our children when they ask us to forgive them for ignoring us, God is even more ready, more loving, with an embrace that completely wraps us in His love when we turn, repent and ask Him for forgiveness. I think that's the moment when we truly recognize just how fake the counterfeits have been! Nothing can compare to the embrace of our Heavenly Father.
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