Sin is more often subtle than it is not. We easily slip into sin and don’t even realize it unless we have faith-filled believers in our lives willing to tell us the bold truth or God brings us to repentance, often by force. However, it is much easier to notice and judge the sinful behavior of others. When reading the Old Testament, it’s unbelievably easy for me to think how “stupid and foolish” the Israelites were only because I know the ending. Yet, the more I study Jeremiah, or any scripture for that matter, I realize how much I am like the same Israelites I judged. 

Jeremiah 2:13 mentions the two sins of the Israelites, idolatry and attempting self-sufficiency. “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Idolatry is the worship of idols, blind worship, or admiration of an undeserving object. And to be self-sufficient, one must be able to maintain oneself or itself without outside aid, capable of providing for one’s own needs and or having an extreme confidence in one’s own ability or worth. Like the Israelites, I have committed both sins. 

Unlike the Israelites, my idols were not wooden or made of stone, but they took my focus and devotion to God in the same way. Without knowing it, I allowed ambition, worldly success,  money, and other things to become idols. The vigor in which I sought God started to fade into religious acts, duties, and obligations.  My pursuit of these worthless idols only enslaved me. I began feeling pressured to perform or maintain an image of perfection. I began to forget the faithfulness of God and the reward of relying on His works rather than mine. I became an idol to myself. 

My desire to be in control, a defense mechanism and safe place,  motivated the need to be self-sufficient. But to be self-sufficient is not to need God. To not need God is to abandon God. “Your wickedness will bring its own punishment. Your turning from me will shame you. You will see what an evil, bitter thing it is to abandon the Lord your God and not to fear him. I, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!” Jeremiah 2:19 NLT

Are you as loyal to God as you were in the beginning? What are the idols in your life? What or who are you relying on instead of God?