Read: Jeremiah 2:1-13
I remember the devotion of your youth. (v. 2)
I once counseled a woman who was heartbroken over her daughter. The daughter, a young adult with self-destructive tendencies, had moved to a big city and cut off all communication. The mother repeatedly reached out, offering whatever support her limited means would allow. She loved her daughter with her whole being. But the only way her love could take effect was if her daughter chose to receive it and return it.
In Jeremiah 2, God expresses heartbreak over his lost love: the nation of Israel (vv. 11-12). God rescued Israel and claimed them as his chosen people (v. 3). God offered the full extent of his protection and provision (v. 7). God’s nearly limitless blessings had one limitation: they were meant to take effect within a relationship of mutual, wholehearted commitment. This is the way God’s love works. God offers himself in love to anyone who will receive him and love him in return.
Through the prophet Jeremiah, God says that his love is the spring from which human life is meant to flow. Every time we sin, we draw sustenance and significance from some substitute source (v. 13). But no other source will satisfy. God is our first love, the love for which we were made. God promises to receive us as we are and give us everything we need. God loves you. For God’s love to take effect in your life, you only need to receive it. And offer your love in return.
As you pray, turn away from your substitutes and return to your first love.
Ben Van Arragon is an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church in North America. After twenty years of congregational ministry, he now serves his denomination as a pastor wellbeing consultant in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
