SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 3
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Have you not just called to me: ‘My Father, my friend from my youth, will you always be angry? Will your wrath continue forever?’ This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can.” [Jeremiah 3:4-5]
Through Jeremiah the Lord is challenging the hypocrisy of the people of Israel and Judah – they speak with religious conviction, but they don’t act like it.
They are like a spouse that says they love their partner, but their actions show the exact opposite.
God uses intimate analogies – of marriage, of parent and child, and of friendship – to expose their betrayal.
God feels like a friend that is betrayed, a parent that is rejected, a spouse that is cheated on.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. [Matthew 23:27-28]
Jesus challenges the religious leaders of His day in a similar fashion.
He describes them as white-washed tombs, bright and clean on the outside but full of death on the inside.
It seems some things don’t change… which means it’s still true today.

Are we guilty of betraying God, of rejecting Him, of cheating on Him?
Maybe we don’t think of our relationship with God in these kinds of ways, but that is how God wants to relate to us.
Our religious expressions will mean nothing if we are not serious about loving and honouring God with our whole heart.
Our religious activities (praying, singing, going to church, reading the bible, etc.) do not mask or cover over our sinful attitudes or behaviours.
God is not looking for religion, He desires our love and devotion.

The consequence of hollow religion for God’s old testament people was the loss of happiness and success: Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. [Jeremiah 3:3]
If we are practicing hollow christianity, we will also experience similar results.
Is there any possibility that we are betraying God as a friend, rejecting God as a Father, cheating on God as a spouse?

PRAYER:
Lord, You want me to devote myself to You with my whole heart, and to live a life that reflects this. Forgive me my whitewash…