God, speaking thru Jeremiah, said a lot of provocative things; this for example:
“I will forsake my house,
abandon my inheritance;
I will give the one I love
into the hands of her enemies.”
-Jeremiah 12:7
This points us toward an important principle: We all have to choose what we will love. Even God chooses. Here, he uses the language of a jilted lover to communicate the seriousness of this choice. We either abandon the lesser gods in our lives to follow him or he will give us over to them.
The point is – we all abandon something. We do it either by choice or by neglect. By choosing to not “seek first his kingdom,” we embrace an array of lesser gods. My hobbies and the stupid ways I spend my time can supplant God in my life.
And even when I get a victory over them, it may be temporary – the lesser gods that I at one point abandoned are perpetually clawing to get back into my life.
I love comfort and pleasure as much as you do. Every day I have to re-balance and assess, “Am I losing the radical edge? Are there things in my life that have begun to dull my passion?”
I don’t know how you work out your salvation with fear and trembling on this issue, but if it’s not a struggle for you, then maybe you need to re-balance your life. Ask a friend to help you, or email me – I’m glad to help. It needs to be a struggle for us.
Exactly what I needed to read today Seth!
Thank you!
You wrote:
“the lesser gods that I at one point abandoned are perpetually clawing to get back into my life”… Seth… I can really relate at this time so what do you do when “lesser gods” come back so forcefully that you feel you HAVE indeed drifted despite your own knowledge?
What if you are surrounded by friends and family that do not know God as being “Put His kingdom first and all these “things”….” and only feed the weak part of you to go the way the WORLD goes… justifying the drift?
I have surrendered, one more time, (but was it ALL ????) I am clinging to my God saying “please don’t let me go”… the struggle is on big time! How do we truly set ourself for victory, how do we really KNOW which choice to make…
In the Desert (and hoping to stay 11 days rather than 40 years… its has been 2 and a half years !)
Thank you, Seth, for this great self-exam today. It is one I need to use daily. Makes me think of St. John of the Cross or Teresa of Avila. You captured much in a few words.
Sabine, I’ll email you privately with some thoughts.