Jeremiah 2:1-2 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
1Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says:
‘I remember the devotion of your youth,
your love as a bride,
how you followed Me in the wilderness,
in a land not sown.’”
It is entirely possible for those of genuine biblical faith
in Jesus Christ, who walked with the Lord in obedience to His commands in holy
living, for a long while, with their lives surrendered to the Lord, dedicated
to His service, in love with God, to, at some point in their walks of faith,
encounter temptation to sin and end up sinning against the Lord in disobedience
to His commands. And it is dumfounding to comprehend how that could happen, but
it happened to King David, did it not? And it happened to me a long time ago.
And when I look back on that time it saddens my heart to
think of it. But if we are not careful, and if our hearts are not guarded, and
if we begin to let even little bits of the world into our minds and hearts, we
can be led astray and fall back into sin, and be in need of restoration and
renewal. But thanks be to God, He did not leave me there. He brought me back,
and He restored me, and He gave me a new lease on life. And in due time He
called me to this present ministry. I am so thankful that He did! All glory to
God!!
Jeremiah 2:5 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
5This is what the LORD says:
“What fault did your fathers find in Me
that they strayed so far from Me?
They followed worthless idols,
and became worthless themselves.”
And then there are those who profess faith in Jesus Christ
with their lips, who go through some of the motions of religious practice, but
who never did have a change of heart and mind resulting in a change of
behavior. Or, if they did, it did not last long, and soon after they began to
stray far from the Lord and to follow after worthless idols to the point to
where they became worthless themselves. For they forsook the God they claimed
to worship, and they worshipped and served the idols of man, instead.
No amount of God’s corrections and disciplines and calls to
repentance made any difference in their lives. They stubbornly held on to their
sin, refused to give up their idols, and continued to do what they knew was
wrong. For it was what their flesh craved. And that is where many professing
Christians are today, giving lip service to the Lord but while they continue to
walk in darkness, in deliberate and habitual sin against God, bowing to their
idols of the flesh. And it will not end well for them if they refuse to change
course.
Jeremiah 2:13 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
“13For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me,
the fountain of living water,
and they have dug their own cisterns—
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
Here in the USA, where I live, we are seeing this much. So
many professing Christians have gone the ways of the world, and they have
forsaken the ways of the Lord. They have accepted a diluted and altered “gospel”
message which makes no requirements of them that they must repent of (forsake,
die to) their sins and obey God, in life practice. And so many who do still
teach repentance and obedience to God teach them more as something we “should”
do, but not as something that God requires of us.
Instead of allowing
the Lord Jesus to build His church, His way, many have turned the church into a
man-made business which is being marketed to the world just like other businesses.
For they have rejected the life-giving water of the Spirit of God in
salvation from sin, and replaced the true gospel of salvation with what is fake
and broken and cannot hold water (the Spirit of God). In other words they
rejected the one true God and His plan of salvation for their lives in favor of
following after man-made idols.
But Jesus
Christ taught that to come to Him we must deny self, take up our cross daily
(die daily to sin), and follow (obey) Him. For if we hold on to living in sin
and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die
daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to His
commands, in His power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone
who calls Him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING
(obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts
26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans
8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1
Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians
5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14;
Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24;
1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation
3:1-22]
So, if this is where
you are, living to please your flesh, and not God, and/or following after the
ways of the world, accepting a diluted “gospel” message, in place of the one
taught by Jesus and by his New Testament apostles, when taught in the correct
biblical context, I pray you will repent of your sins, and that you will submit
to Christ as Lord, and follow Him in obedience to His commands from this day
forward. Don’t let the devil trap you into sinning against God. Resist him!
Flee from him! And follow Jesus always!
Following Worthless
Idols
An Original Work / August 16, 2026
Christ’s
Free Servant, Sue J Love
Near the Cross
Hymn lyrics by Fanny J. Crosby, 1869
Music by William H. Doane, 1869
Jesus,
keep me near the cross;
There
a precious fountain,
Free
to all, a healing stream,
Flows
from Calvary's mountain.
Near
the cross, a trembling soul,
Love
and mercy found me;
There
the bright and morning star
Sheds
its beams around me.
Near
the cross! O Lamb of God,
Bring
its scenes before me;
Help
me walk from day to day
With
its shadow o'er me.
Near
the cross I'll watch and wait,
Hoping,
trusting ever,
Till
I reach the golden strand
Just
beyond the river.
In
the cross, in the cross,
Be
my glory ever,
Till
my raptured soul shall find
Rest
beyond the river.
https://youtu.be/Xrmlv806bGM?si=2UEIyPZ01xCiV2W1
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