sermonshorts

Jeremiah 2:5 states “⁵ This is what the Lord says:   “What did your ancestors find wrong with me that led them to stray so far from me?  They worshiped worthless idols,
only to become worthless themselves.”

Here God says that his people strayed far from Him and went after worthless idols and in so doing they became worthless themselves.  The problem with idols is not just that you are looking to something else besides Jesus as your first love but that when you do that you actually become WORTHLESS.  Now, I honestly think most people don’t intend to BECOME worthless but what they don’t realize is when they chase someone or something else besides God that is what happens.

The word worthless literally means in vain or empty and is the idea of a breath that goes away and disappears.  The interesting thing about that is people that go after something else tend to talk a lot as they do so because they are trying to rationalize what they are doing.  But the irony is that their life is becoming exactly like what they are saying, vain and empty.  Listen to what God said right before this:

This is what the Lord says:    “I remember how eager you were to please me as a young bride long ago, how you loved me and followed me even through the barren wilderness.”  God says that he wants us to go after Him like a bride goes after he husband when they are first married.  He wants us to treat Him as ULTIMATE but not just for him but also for us because he knows that if we go after anything else then we become worthless.

An idol therefore is ANYTHING or ANYONE that you are following that is not Jesus.  That could be:

• A certain way of living
• A relationship
• Success
• A certain style of church
• An authority figure
• Anything or anyone else that you are tempted to listen to over Jesus

My goal for you is to have a WORTHY life as you worship the only one who is worthy and sometimes that means calling out what you are worshiping that is worthless.