To compete in Cedar

Today, I am going to attempt to cover everything I've covered in my bible study over the past couple of weeks to talk about one verse. So here it goes.

In Jeremiah, God uses the prophet(Jeremiah) to tell the people if they don't repent of their sins that famine, pestilence and sword will fall upon them. That's the first 20 chapters. I thought that would be a lot harder but what I want to go over is what Jeremiah has to tell the king. In chapter 22, Jeremiah tells the king of how God will destroy them if they don't obey; then God turns his direction to the sons is what we see here in verse 11. So at this time, Babylon is already invading Israel and killing their people; at the same time Josiah son(Jehoiakim) is having a pissing contest with other kings by building his new palace. Now here's the verse I want to talk about: "Do you think you are a king because you compete in cedar?" To Jehoiakim, his pleasure, his security, all comes from this ornate palace he has built wrongfully. We read on to find that he didn't pay his workers. A very selfish king that pursued what would make him look good while Babylon was invading his land.

 How many times do we do that? The idea were we put up a show on the outside to let everybody know everything is going alright but secretly everything underneath is chaos. We have so much agony, pain or questions inside but we portray to the world that "Hey, I'm a Christian. I have it all together.". This here lies the problem. How are we expected to grow with each other in small group, if we can't even be vulnerable in this safe enviroment. How can we expect non-believers to come to Christ if we can't be vulnerable with our sins with them or what we are struggling with? If we are not open and honest about our sins to one others how are others going to be open on coming to grips with theirs?

So this week, what are some idols in your life? For Jehoiakim, it was his palace and his place as a king. But for you, what if God were take away something so drastic it would make you question his existence? What is that idea or object? That gentlemen is what we call an idol. In my life, I find that one of my idols are my finances. It so much of an idol that I didn't tithe for 4 years because I was afraid that the power of the cross was not enough in my life. This week in prayer time, we're gonna talk about this. So be prepared to talk about what idols you have in your life. We are looking for genuine open and honest answers this week. Prepared to get vulnerable with your brothers in Christ.

Much love this week.
-K