Jeremiah 13: 9-11 -
"The LORD says: This illustrates how I will rot away the pride of Judah
and Jerusalem. These wicked people
refuse to listen to me. They stubbornly follow their own desires and worship
idols. Therefore, they will become like this linen belt -- good for nothing! As a belt clings to a person's waist, so I
created Judah and Israel to cling to me," says the LORD. "They were
to be my people, my pride, my glory -- an honor to my name. But they would not
listen to me."
Jeremiah had been given a powerful visual by obeying God one
more time. The new loin cloth he wore
close to him for a time…was buried in a hole in the river. God told him to go get it out after a time
had passed…and it had rotted into a useless garment. It became Jeremiah’s
visual to speak to the people about the pride they had let rot their hearts.
God longed for the time that his people were drawn close to
him….when he had complete control of their lives the way he did Jeremiah’s. But
they had left God…buried their love for him somewhere else….started worshiping
idols. They exchanged their need for God with selfish pride.
My Life Application Bible gave 5 real dangers to letting
pride rot our hearts. Once pride is in
control…we begin to look down on others. Then we begin to let those selfish
motives rule our choices with the resources God gives us. If that’s not bad
enough…we begin to force our solutions as ways to solve everyone’s problems.
Another danger is that we think that God’s blessings on our lives come because
we have earned them. The worst danger is that we eventually take control of our
lives from God…and stop seeking him for anything.
The one good thing about letting your heart become rotted with
pride is that the great physician can still fix it. He can take that blood he shed on the cross
and wash us clean of all these ways that pride has damaged us….IF…..we repent
of our sin and confess it before him.
Our heart comes out of the mess we made it looking like new. Jesus let
John 14:6 record his own words…it says…. “Jesus saith
unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father,
but by me.”
Seems like God is repeating a lot of things he has told me
in the past lately. I sure needed this one again. I needed this reminder that
pride is always lurking close by….ready to sneak into your heart. It is hardly noticeable till it has already
rotted quite a bit of your heart. I
struggle with it daily…even minute by minute….and am so glad that God won’t let
it abide in my heart for very long before he brings my attention to it.
Father…thank you for the reminder that I must always watch
out for pride to try and sneak back into my heart. Forgive me for not noticing it quick enough …or
seeing through the many disguises it wears to trick me into thinking that it is
something good. Help me to wash my own
feet each morning with a heaping dose of humility. Help me to listen to you tell me exactly what
to do…so satan cannot confuse me with anything that is not from you. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment