“For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the Lord. They have set their detestable things in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.”
(Jeremiah 7:30–31, ESV)
I will admit it. I like many others got caught up in the deception of the world system. What is the lie? John wrote of this.
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.” (1 John 2:15–16, ESV)
The world system is a philosophy instituted by the devil that is contradictory to the principles of the kingdom of God. It is characterized by lusts for what the sinful nature craves. Materialism, prestige, money, power, influence, and etcetera are all part of the problem. These things are ingrained into the way we view things and establish our priorities in life.
In the pursuit of this world system, I sacrificed time and energy for a career. I did not enjoy working sixty-hour weeks, the travelling, and the job pressures. Yet for the pursuit of a career and advancement, these were necessary evils. Yet the family paid the price. The larger problem was not the pursuit of the career, but the sacrifice of the genuine intimacy the family needed. This did not just affect my work time, but also my off time where my priorities were also misdirected. When off from work I was home in body but not in the depth of intimate relationship that the family needed.
In this passage of Jeremiah, we see an issue that needs to be addressed. The Lord condemned the Israelites for worshipping idols in addition to the practice of child sacrifice. The nation had perverted the worship that God desired and practiced idolatry and child sacrifice to a false god.
The problem with the world system is that it is designed to cause people to create false gods in their lives, that is idols. These idols are not necessarily physical images of gods, but substitutes that steal our devotion. We can make false gods out of anything without even knowing it. We can make our hobbies, our careers, possessions, money, and a host of other things into false gods. One huge problem is that we can end up sacrificing our children to these false gods. It is our children’s lives that are at stake.
It is not that our hobbies, our careers, possessions, money, and a host of other things are bad in and of themselves. What is bad is the fact that we can sacrifice our relationship with the one true God in the pursuit of these things. This pursuit of false gods also brings us to sacrifice what our children really need.
What do our children need? It is one of same things that God desires, a close intimate relationship. Our children need us not the stuff the world system offers. Sometimes we feel that giving them things will satisfy their deepest need. Money or gifts given to a child will never meet their deepest need. They need a deep loving relationship. It is a relationship that will go deeper than the superficial. It is not about just talking about the weather, techniques for playing sports, etc. It is about conversing on a deeper level, honestly dealing with emotions, fears, hurts, and issues, in a loving and helpful manner. It means two-way openness and honesty. A failure to work through life’s issues and emotions with our children leaves them feeling abandoned sacrificed for the world system, the idols we have created.
So, I ask this question. Have we sacrificed our children to the god of careers? To the god of hobbies? To the god of money? To the god of pleasure? To the god of entertainment? If so, let us repent and try by God’s grace to right the ship the best that we can and build intimate connections with our children.
Renewing the Heart 