Fool me twice, shame on me

Fool me twice, shame on me

Jeremiah 4: 10-18 

We have all fallen for a con job at some time in our lives. Often it is a minor deception – paying too much for a trinket in a bazaar. Or it can be expensive – fraudsters who fool pensioners into investing their life savings in worthless investments. If we learn form mistakes, we may not be fooled by the same person or trick again. Yet some do get fooled again. Usually when that happens, the tricksters use common human desires to accomplish their task. The human desire of greed and pride are the prime targets. Greed (or covetousness) is the desire to possess something more, way more than what we have. And pride because we think we can never be fooled.

The greatest deceiver in the world works on the quiet. He plants seeds of doubt, and nurtures greed and pride in individuals. As more people believe his lies, society has come to believe the lie. And man is hurting his own soul. Modern man has become the fool.

Society today has bought into the lie of universalism, that all gods are the same and all religions lead to heaven. A cursory look at each religion makes it obvious that they do not teach the same thing. Hinduism teaches that everything is part of god and that all is god. There is no individuality to the soul. Judeo-Islamic religions teach that God is the creator but is transcendent. Thos two views are polar opposite. Yet man will deny the true God and chase after untruths and things that please their sinful nature.

In Jeremiah’s day, Israel, God’s chosen people had done the same. They were running after pagan gods, the enticements of the Baal worship and turned away from God. And God, being the Father (see Jer 3:19) has to allow them to go their merry way in their prideful ignorance and greedy consumption.

1. Jeremiah said that God has deceived the Israelites (4:10). This is similar to a parent today, who cannot control his child. The child insists on his autonomy and keeps making bad decisions. The parent has to allow this because they have no other choice. Yet when the child faces the consequences, e.g. having to go to jail for theft, for example, the child may ask the father, “Why did you let me do this?” And all the father can do is to say that he had to let him go because child would not listen.

God has let modern man and society go. Dangerous as it may be, he allows us that freedom. We have abused it and turned away form him. Can we not seek God again? His word is there for us to learn from and obey.  

2. Israel would face the consequences (4:19). So will we if we continue to ignore or deny the true God. Unless we repent and turn to God, we will suffer the eternal spiritual consequences of our actions. We will lose our soul. Are you scared by this truth? If you are, God is here, waiting to receive you, by His grace. He does not condemn the one who comes back to him and confesses his sinful attitudes.

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation Romans 10:9-10.

Sin is not just doing bad things as people seem to assume.  Paradoxically, even those who do not believe in God get outraged when they are referred to as “sinners” in God’s eyes!  It should not even be an issue for them, but it seems to offend something in them. But I believe it is in their heart – they have that innate “god-desire” in them, even if they do not know it. Sin is a disposition or attitude toward the true God, an attitude of rebellion and disobedience, and acting on that by denying Him, that constitutes sin. Repent and turn to God. He will receive you with open arms.

+Joshua

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