Engraved on the Tablet of Their Heart

“The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars, while their children remember their altars and their Asherim, beside every green tree and on the high hills, on the mountains in the open country. Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory. You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave to you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.” (Jeremiah 17:1-4 ESV)

What was the sin of Judah? Their fathers had forsaken the Lord and had gone after other gods (idols) and had served and worshiped them, and they had forsaken the Lord and had not kept his law, and the people of Judah had done worse than their fathers did. For every one of them had followed their own stubborn evil will, and they had refused to listen to the Lord. And the eyes of the Lord were on all their ways. Their ways were not hidden from the Lord, nor was their iniquity concealed from the eyes of God.

And what is an idol? It can be anything or anyone that is worshipped in place of or above God. It can be anything or anyone to whom we might give our undivided loyalties and devotion and vows of fidelity or our time and affections and attention in place of or above God or without regard for God and for what his word teaches we must do and not do. An idol can be anything or anyone which/who takes the place of God in our hearts and which/who we look to in order to meet our needs in place of God.

For example, here in America we were trained from early on in our lives to pledge (vow) allegiance (fidelity, worship, faithfulness, loyalty) to our government, with hand over heart. And we were taught this at school, at church, and at home, too, perhaps. And we were taught to give our loyalty, devotion, admiration, and support to our military who we were to regard as our saviors who were the ones keeping us safe. And we were taught to sing songs of worship of our government in school and in the church.

And from that we have many people, including many Christians, who blindly put their trust in the government, or at least in one side of the government, and who are looking to men to be their saviors and to rescue them from the trouble that our nation is in. And they believe the government (or just one side) and what they tell them is going on, and so they put their confidence in our national form of government, and in the men they choose to trust, without even seeking the counsel of God and looking to him to save them.

But idols can also be sports heroes or movie stars or famous musicians or famous preachers or evangelists or pastors. And so people put their trust in them, too, and they worship them by giving them their blind devotion and loyalties, oftentimes without even testing the spirits to see if they are of God, and without even examining what they teach or sing or speak or do against what the Scriptures teach regarding how we are to live as followers of Christ and what we are to do and not do, if our faith is genuine faith.

But idols can be things, too, like possessions, such as homes, boats, cars, and home interiors and furniture and/or clothing and shoes, etc. Or they can be such things as talent and intelligence and knowledge and education, or they can be titles that go before people’s names. Or idols can be addictive sin patterns such as idolatry, adultery, alcoholism, drug addiction, sexual addiction, gossip, thievery, lying, cheating, and the like. They are anything and anyone against God and/or who take the place of God in our lives.

But as those who believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, our God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – should be our only God who we worship and who we give our complete love and devotion and loyalties to above all else. We should not be looking to anyone else or to anything else to rescue us from the evils of our society or to make life better for us, somehow. And God should have first place in our lives, and our loyalties to him should be above all else. He alone should be worshiped.

But, sadly, so many in America who profess the name of Jesus as Lord have not truly made him Lord of their lives. They give lip service to him, but their hearts are far from him. They are still worshiping the idols of man, and they are still giving their minds, hearts, and devotion to other humans or to the things of this world, in place of or above God. For many of them, God is barely even mentioned in their daily lives, and they may or may not even read their bibles or follow the Lord in obedience at all.

So many of them have bought into a cheapened form of the gospel of Christ which dilutes and alters the gospel message to make it more acceptable to human flesh and to the ungodly of this world. And while they are claiming that they know God, and that they are in fellowship with him, and that heaven is their eternal destiny, they are still living to please the flesh, still walking in sin, still serving their idols, but while they are not walking in obedience to the Lord, doing his will, living holy lives pleasing to God.

And I believe that our nation of North America is certainly under the judgment of God as is the church at large here in America which has partnered with the government and with the world and with big business, and which has agreed to dilute the gospel message and to alter the character of God/Christ, and of his church (the body of Christ), and in order to make them more acceptable to human flesh, and so as not to offend the ungodly of this world who they are trying to attract to their gatherings.

And so this is a call from God to repent, and to turn to God (or back to God), and to deny self, die to sin daily, by the Spirit, and to now walk in obedience to the Lord and to his commands in holy living. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, and for self-pleasure, and we do not walk in conduct in surrender to our Lord in obedience to his commands, living morally pure, upright, and godly lives, then we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what we profess with our lips. Take this to heart!

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Peter 1:15; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Broken Cord

An Original Work / August 29, 2018

Your bond is broken with your Lord and Savior

And your testimony is separate from Him.

Your words not matching your actions today.

Repent of your sin and bow down and pray.

Live what you testify in truth always.

Purity’s lacking in your life and witness,

For you profess one thing, but other you do.

Not moral, spiritual. Still of the flesh.

Not living in truth to what you confess.

Lying about it puts you in a mess.

Living a lie is your practice, ‘tis true of you.

Masquerade righteousness – none of it true.

Your heart is not given to your Lord God.

Because of how you live, you are a fraud.

Turn from your sin and give your life to God.

https://vimeo.com/287303934