Practice makes perfect
This week's goodness is on Jeremiah 4:22:
What are you skilled in? For a long time, I was skilled in watching television and drinking beer. Lately, I've been working on becoming an expert in eating cookies and surfing the web. I already have thousands of hours invested in grazing the Internet, looking for little interesting morsels of information, while stuffing my face with fistfuls of tasty chocolate chip cookies. If you compare how good I am at doing that, and my wholehearted devotion to it, with how half-hearted and lame my time spent with God is, you'll see what God is getting at in these verses spoken through Jeremiah.
God said that the people of Israel were like silly foolish children. They had mad skillz when it came to doing evil, but they had no clue how to do good. How did that happen? Did God create them that way? Or did they end up like that from practicing evil while neglecting good?
Without God, it's impossible to learn to do what is truly good. We can do things that other people will like, but as far as what's healthy for us, and healthy for eternity, only God has a clear answer. Israel didn't care about seeking God, but they had all kinds of interest in doing evil. As a result, they became experts in evildoing, but were completely inexperienced and useless when it came to doing good.
It's a basic principle of God's universe that we will improve our skills in anything we practice. I probably stand in the top ten of people I know, as far as eating cookies and reading pointless blogs goes. I wasn't born that way. I just valued it enough that I invested a crazy amount of time into it. If I had invested that time into silent communion with God, or into prayer, or evangelism, I'd probably be an expert in those things instead. Which is better for eternity, eating cookies, or hearing the voice of God? I'll let you think about the answer for a minute.
I am comfortable admitting that my gut has grown faster than my spirit, because I know I'm not the only one in that situation. Everybody has their area of temptation, or misaligned priorities. The important thing is being able to see it and do something about it. Do you want to spend your life practising pointless evil, or do you want to stop right now and begin practising what is good?
"My people are fools;
they do not know me.
They are senseless children;
they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil;
they know not how to do good."
What are you skilled in? For a long time, I was skilled in watching television and drinking beer. Lately, I've been working on becoming an expert in eating cookies and surfing the web. I already have thousands of hours invested in grazing the Internet, looking for little interesting morsels of information, while stuffing my face with fistfuls of tasty chocolate chip cookies. If you compare how good I am at doing that, and my wholehearted devotion to it, with how half-hearted and lame my time spent with God is, you'll see what God is getting at in these verses spoken through Jeremiah.
God said that the people of Israel were like silly foolish children. They had mad skillz when it came to doing evil, but they had no clue how to do good. How did that happen? Did God create them that way? Or did they end up like that from practicing evil while neglecting good?
Without God, it's impossible to learn to do what is truly good. We can do things that other people will like, but as far as what's healthy for us, and healthy for eternity, only God has a clear answer. Israel didn't care about seeking God, but they had all kinds of interest in doing evil. As a result, they became experts in evildoing, but were completely inexperienced and useless when it came to doing good.
It's a basic principle of God's universe that we will improve our skills in anything we practice. I probably stand in the top ten of people I know, as far as eating cookies and reading pointless blogs goes. I wasn't born that way. I just valued it enough that I invested a crazy amount of time into it. If I had invested that time into silent communion with God, or into prayer, or evangelism, I'd probably be an expert in those things instead. Which is better for eternity, eating cookies, or hearing the voice of God? I'll let you think about the answer for a minute.
I am comfortable admitting that my gut has grown faster than my spirit, because I know I'm not the only one in that situation. Everybody has their area of temptation, or misaligned priorities. The important thing is being able to see it and do something about it. Do you want to spend your life practising pointless evil, or do you want to stop right now and begin practising what is good?
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