Scripture
"I remember the devotion of your youth..." (Jeremiah 2:1)
Observation
God told Jeremiah to tell that to Israel. She had fallen away from God, people who were once fervent in their relationship to Him, devoted to His calling, open to His directives, and quick to adjust and learn.
But as the years went by, they became jaded and hardened. They began to use God for their purposes and they ceased being pliable. They tolerated unresolved relationships.
Israel of the Old Testament is not some isolated piece of history. It is rather a mirror of our own tendencies. Therefore we cannot study it as a story with some good moral. We must let it study us and allow it to renew good morals in us, reconstruct us, rectify erroneous direction and tendencies lest we become just like the ones we are reading about.
Application
I remember my own devotion in my youth, and I want to retain that. Col. 2:6 tells us: And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to live in obedience to him."
In other words, walk with Him with the same heart that you had when you firs received Him. I know I have often drifted from that king of innocent heart, servant mindedness, without pretense or posing. It was a heart genuine and authentic.
Matthew 18:3 rings in my head: "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
There again is the call back to innocence and purity.
Today I want to re-develop, return, and reconfigure my spirit back to the devotion of my youth.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, please restore my heart to you. Keep me innocent with a heart that contains no pretense. Please keep me near to Your heart.
