Day 188: Jeremiah 1-4

When I read this verse this morning I was reminded of a quote about worship I have read many times and I'm not really sure of its original source...but someone said that we become like what we worship. We tend to take on the character of the person or thing that we love the most. God said (through Jeremiah):

What fault did your ancestors find in me,
   that they strayed so far from me?
They followed worthless idols
   and became worthless themselves. (2:5)

I don't want to become worthless.

God also says:

They have turned their backs to me
   and not their faces;
yet when they are in trouble, they say,
   ‘Come and save us!’ (2:27)

Isn't that so often the case? People live their whole lives contrary to God...or at the very least completely marginalizing Him...but when the going gets tough they expect God to come through for them...and then blame Him for the trouble that they have really brought on themselves.

Yet in spite of all this
 you say, ‘I am innocent;
   he is not angry with me.’
But I will pass judgment on you
   because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ (2:34-35)

I think maybe this is the real problem. I thought it was something new but apparently it was true in Jeremiah's day. We, and be "we" I mean our modern culture, deny the very existence of sin. I mean who's to say what's a sin and what's not? Or, to quote Lady Gaga again, "I was born this way!" It's not sin, it;s the way You made me! And then ( and here's the really amazing part of the whole thing) God says that He will forgive us and forget it ever happened if we just acknowledge our guilt...and turn back to Him.

But acknowledging guilt is hard. It's easier to just say we have nothing to be guilty about...well, it's easier for now.