Verse of the Week: “But they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame, and became detestable like the thing they loved.” (Hosea 9:10)
Truth of the Week: We become like that which we love – a truth that is sobering, yet inspiring.
If we love what is shallow and fleeting (like wealth, popularity, or positions of power) then our souls will shrink and our lives will lack substance. Loving what is empty breeds emptiness within us.
If we are enamored with whatever we believe will bring us pleasure (like entertainment, material things, or relationships) then our lives will become trivial and self-absorbed. We will be superficial, restless, and discontent – always searching for the next thing to stimulate us and make us feel alive.
If we are drawn to what is impure and ungodly (like any kind of sexual immorality) we will find ourselves sinking into deeper levels of depravity and vileness, enslaved and imprisoned by what at first seemed so tantalizing.
But – if we love God supremely, and diligently place our highest affections upon Him, we will find the life-giving, soul-satisfying image of His Son being formed within us. If we love what is full and overflowing, we will find fullness rising up within us. If we love what is glorious, we will see glory radiating forth from us. God repeatedly calls us to love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. He does this not only because He alone is worthy of such whole-hearted devotion, but also because He knows that we become like what we love, and His desire and design is that His children grow in the likeness of their Father.
May we vigilantly guard our hearts, and not give our love to lesser things. May we give our love to God alone, and in so doing, become more like the God we love!
Quote of the Week: “The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love: he who loveth mean and sordid things doth thereby become base and vile; but a noble and well-placed affection doth advance and improve the spirit unto a conformity with the perfections which it loves.” (Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man)
