We're getting close to entering the holiday season and we've already started getting flooded with gift catalogs at home.  And each catalog shows us the latest, greatest, coolest, just-gotta-have-it gift for this season.  And it got me to thinking about gifts.  Have you ever gotten a gift that seemed like it would be really great at first, but after a little while it's lost its luster?  Perhaps you notice it in June and think, "You know, I never use that thing."  On December 25th, it was a great gift.  On June 25th, not so much.  I've gotten a few of those.  And I've probably given more than a few of those (and there's no need to check with Joanne on that) !!

Well, in Jeremiah 10, our passage for this week, I think the Israelites have discovered that the new shiny things they've brought into their lives have started to lose their luster.  And so they often try to pretend that didn't really need or want that thing in the first place.  But then the Prophet Jeremiah points it out, "Hey, what's that over there?  Isn't that the new fancy idol you got last year?  What's it doing over there in the corner?  Why aren't you using it?  Doesn't it work?"  And in his trademark blunt manner, Jeremiah proceeds to make some very specific contrasts between all of the false idols and the One True God.  And he convincingly shows us why idols don't work.

We also live in a time where lots of people have idols.  Okay, maybe they're made out of words instead of wood and some of them are symbols instead of stone.  But they are idols nonetheless.  And they rule over our culture like a pantheon of "isms."  We have atheism, pluralism, relativism, skepticism, inclusivism, and sitting on top of the whole pagan roster of false gods is the high priest of tolerance.  And Jeremiah's words for us today are just as pointed as they were back then.  And he's going to force us to look at a number of ways our God is more wonderful that any false idols could ever be.  I hope you will find it encouraging.  See you Sunday, Dr. Dave