“Have you not brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken the LORD your God when He led you in the way?” (Jeremiah 2:17, NKJV)

Humans tend to blame others for their faults rather than owning them. They ignore and violate God’s commandments and then blame God when their life is a mess. If they realized that their problems are the result of their own choices, then there would be hope. But by persisting in unbelief and sin they suffer God’s wrath, which is often manifested as the natural consequences of sin. This was the case with the southern kingdom of Judah.

They had forsaken the LORD and committed spiritual adultery with other gods. They worshiped lifeless idols that they adopted from the surrounding nations. Rather than seeking help from the LORD, they turned to Egypt and Assyria. These nations, along with their gods, were Judah’s new “lovers”.

We must all be on guard for idols that draw us away from Christ. The apostle John ended his epistle with these words:

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” (1 John 5:21, NKJV)

An idol is anything that comes between us and our worship of God. Idols, in the lives of believers, can be good things that become more important to us than worshiping and obeying God. Allowing idols in our lives will always have negative consequences. They separate us from God and His people. They weaken our usefulness and destroy our witness. If we don’t repent of them, then Christ will remove us from our place (Revelation 2:5).

How much better is it to turn from these vain things to worship and serve the living God? May God search our hearts and reveal any idols that draw us away from Christ so that we may turn away from them.