THINK TOGETHER
Have you ever eaten or drank something that made you sick? What was it?
READ TOGETHER
Do you remember what the exile was? That's right. The exile was when the Jewish people were taken captive by the Babylonians and forced to leave the promised land for 70 years. Jeremiah was a prophet during the exile. Jeremiah the prophet explains to us why God's people were sent into exile in Babylon. Listen to how he describes the sin of the people here:
Jeremiah 2:13.for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
Jeremiah is using a figure of speech to describe the sin of the people. He's comparing their sin to drinking water from a broken cistern. Israel can be a pretty dry place, and finding fresh, flowing water can be really hard. So the people would dig a big hole in the ground and line it with plaster creating a giant bowl called a cistern. The cistern would catch the rain water for people to drink. But often these cisterns would crack and break, filling with mud. Yuck. Or, even worse, sometimes animals would get into them and poop. Now the water was gross and even deadly.
Jeremiah is giving us a warning. We need to be careful about making anything God gives us more important than God himself. Our broken cistern of disgusting water can be anything that we let control us, even good things. When we have to have something or be the best at something in order to be happy, that's when we know that we have forsaken (rejected) God.
When Jesus was on earth he stood up in front of all the people and declared that he was a stream of living water. Not muddy or poopy water that will kill you, but fresh water that will always make us happy. Why? Because Jesus never makes you earn anything. He never asks you to be the best or to do more. He's the best! He's done it all! Trust and love him the most, and you will never be disappointed.
Because of Jesus we don't have to prove how good or important we are any more.
With Jesus you can always be happy knowing that he's not keeping score.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Do you have any old food in your house? Should you eat it? Talk about how chasing after idols is like eating bad food that will make you sick.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, you are my fresh water that satisfies me. Help me to stop trying to show off and be the best at things that can never make me truly happy. Amen.
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