Jeremiah 25:6  Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not harm you.

Stories about genies are very popular. They vary from culture to culture but there are many versions of the concept. Who hasn’t thought how great it would be to find a lamp, rub it, and prepare for all our wildest dreams to come true!? We will have a genie, a supernaturally-powerful being at our disposal to do whatever we want!

It seem that sometimes we get the idea that we can treat God like a genie. That He exists to make all our wildest dreams come true. We hope that He will help us. We, sadly, think He might ignore us. But He’ll have to choose one of the two; those are His options. But God is not a genie and Scripture provides us with a stark third option.

Jeremiah, and the other prophets, were sent to warn Israel and bring them to repentance. They were in real danger and the danger might be at the hands of the Babylonians, but it would be at God’s command. But why?

Because they had gone after other gods. They were guilty of idolatry. Idolatry is when we put something in priority over God and though we might or might not have an assortment of little statues in our house, we must be on guard against this sin that God so hates.

Anything can become an idol: money, pleasure, appearance, sex, pets, even family. The biggest one is probably just ourselves. If I’m not actively involving God in my daily life it doesn’t mean that He won’t be involved. God cares enough about us to bring us pain to get our attention. None of the substitutes we might come up with will be able to do for us what only God can.

God loved us so much that He sent His only Son for us. Why would we look for another option? And why would we assume that if we did it might not cause a reaction on God’s part? 

Blessings,

Pastor Russ