June 8 - Scarecrow in a Melon Patch

Today's Reading:
Jeremiah 10:1-11:23
Revelation 9:1-21
Proverbs 3:11-20 
Click on Text Link to Read Online

Focus Verses:
Jeremiah 10:1-5
1 Hear what the LORD says to you, O house of Israel. 2 This is what the LORD says: "Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. 3 For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. 4 They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. 5 Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good."

Insight:
So much of what people honor, pursue, and trust are worthless idols. No matter how slick, beautiful, religious, philosophical, or attractive people make them, these idols are nothing more than something they've made. When we choose to love the gods of our own making, we are bound for disappointment as we discover that they are powerless to give joy, security, or fulfillment.

Response and Action:
I will reserve my love, honor, and worship for God. I will not chase after the worthless things that most people seem to value, love, and trust. I want to see God for who he is and see empty substitutes for what they are.

O God, show yourself to me. Help me to know you more and more each day as I follow Christ, listen to your word, and surrender myself to your Spirit. Lead, teach, transform, shape, and strengthen me, that I might delight in your will, and walk in your ways to the glory of your name. Amen.

Spiritual Formation Verses: Romans 1:20-25
20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Resources:
Breaking the Idols of Your Heart
by Dan Allender and Tremper Longman