How Men Fail

In the second chapter of the Book of Jeremiah, God is taking issue with His people Israel. He sends His prophet to declare to those in Jerusalem that though He remembers the “devotion of [their] youth,” and their “love as a bride,” something has since gone very, very wrong.

“What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?” (2:5)

Though God had “brought [Israel] into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things,” (vs. 7), He contends that, “The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who handle the law did not know me; the shepherds transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit,” (vs. 8, emphasis mine) and, later, “[M]y people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.” (vs. 11, emphasis mine)

In verses 12 and 13, we land on perhaps one of Scripture’s most powerful metaphors:

“Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord,
                for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

Many of the words of Jeremiah (and several of the other prophets) are directed toward this very contention: that though Israel was delivered from slavery and bondage and brought into a prosperous and protected land to flourish and thrive - by nothing but the inexplicable, free grace of God - the people have somehow still decided to turn from the one true God in order to seek fulfillment and satisfaction in things which have absolutely no ability to provide them.

Though these words were written hundreds of years before Christ arrived on the scene, the lesson and truth they contain still resound as relevant and applicable for all New Testament Christians today.

The great crime of the Israelites that led to their expulsion from the Promised Land and a decades-long captivity at the hands of foreign powers was primarily that of idolatry. “They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things,” to quote the Apostle Paul from Romans 1. The thing that had provided life and purpose and meaning and even existence itself to the Israelites, both as individual people and as a nation, was given subordinate status to other, far lesser things. And these other things were entreated to supply that which can only come from the hand of God and then worshipped as if they did.

The Lord Himself had warned them about the danger of this very behavior:

And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.  It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.  You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and He destroy you from off the face of the earth. – Deuteronomy 6:10-15

 Archaic as the notion of worshipping an idol may seem, the truth of the matter remains that we all still struggle with this exact tendency in the modern day. The exchange of God for lesser things is a universal human problem. And it is precisely that exchange that derails the faith of so many Christian men.

The Bible tells us that God is the giver of all good and perfect gifts (James 1:17) and that everything we receive from Him ought to be enjoyed with thankfulness (I Timothy 4:4). We are free to relish in the manifold and undeserved blessings God gives us every day.

But what happens when the blessings become ultimate? What happens when our minds shift to valuing the gifts more than the person who is giving them to us? What happens when we begin to look for purpose, meaning, satisfaction and joy in the temporary and transient circumstances of life, good as they may be?

The result is that we wind up precisely where the Israelites did.

Christian men fail when they elevate the good gift of work to the place of ultimacy and become proud workaholics, deriving their sense of worth and purpose from their jobs and sacrificing the health of their families and the vibrancy of their faith for worldly success. (Psalm 127:1-2)

Christian men fail when they elevate the good gift of their body to the place of ultimacy and begin to thrive on competition, comparing themselves against one another, deriving self-worth and importance from amoral achievements fueled by self-obsession that will fade over time and totally disappear in the span of eternity. (Ecclesiastes 4:4-6; II Corinthians 10:12-13)

Christian men fail when they elevate the good gifts of romance and sex to the place of ultimacy and become unfaithful adulterers, drowning in lust and attempting to find validation of their masculinity through illicit sexual conquest and selfish titillation. (Matthew 5:28; Proverbs 5)

Christian men fail when they elevate the good gift of money to the place of ultimacy and seek to win at life through acquisition and hoarding, hoping to find security in monetary cushions and a sense of triumph accorded by the bottom lines of their bank accounts. (I Timothy 6:9; Ecclesiastes 5:10)

Christian men fail when they elevate the good gift of family to the place of ultimacy and pride themselves over the victories of their children or the achievements of their forefathers, and refuse to confront unbiblical behavior within their own homes, fearing the loss of human relationship more than disobedience to Christ. (Matthew 10:34; 12:46-50)

Christian men fail when they elevate food and drink to the place of ultimacy and seek emotional release from indulgence and attempt to cope through consumption, becoming gluttons, addicts and alcoholics. (Philippians 3:19; Ephesians 5:18)

All Christian men struggle against the heart’s natural tendency towards idolatry. The insidious thought that sin placed within our minds is that we can and should be the gods of our own existence. When our notions of autonomous rule and independence crash headlong into the reality of life in the world and our inability to control the dynamics, circumstances, and outcomes  of our own lives becomes undeniable, we seek safety, comfort and hope in a bunch of different places that cannot deliver the goods.

Christian men fail when they trust Christ as savior but refuse to honor Him as Lord.

So, today, take stock of your priorities. What is your life really about? What is it that provides you with purpose and meaning? How do your priorities truly line up? What’s truly the most important to you? What are you willing to sacrifice or forego in order to have fellowship with the Christ that gave His life for you? Are you judging the success or value of your life according to the standards of the world around you or by the Word of God? Are you seeking the appreciation and adulation of men or that of God?

Christian men must always be committed to the notion of Biblical introspection, correction and repentance. Our hearts are deceitful and wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). They’re constantly strategizing how they might turn us from trusting in Christ – our one, true hope for joy, peace, and everlasting life – to the other bright, shiny things in our lives that we might be convinced to make primary. (Romans 7:21-25)

Christian, there is only one thing that can bear the weight of ultimacy in your life. All others will fail you. And in failing you, they will cause you to fail, as well.

Refuse to set yourself up for failure. “[I]n your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy,” (I Peter 3:15) and “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37) Implore God for the grace to do so.

Protect yourself from spiritual shipwreck and live the life you have been called to live.

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Remember this and stand firm,
recall it to mind, you transgressors,
remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me.
– Isaiah 46:8-9