If only ...
“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” (Jer. 2:13)
Prone to Wander
by Christina Fox
Do you ever look at your life and think, “If only ___ happened, then my life would be better?” What would fill in that blank? Perhaps a different job. Or a bigger house. Success in ministry. A dream realized. Many of these “if-onlys” are not inherently bad; many are even about good, God-given things. The problem for our hearts is that we tend to look to those things to rescue us from the dissatisfactions of life. We look to those things to give our lives comfort, meaning, and hope. And in so doing, we make them functional saviors, idols of our hearts.
As believers, we are called to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. We were created for worship, and because we are new creations united to Christ by faith, our hearts belong to Him alone. Yet while we have been delivered from the power of sin, the presence of sin remains in us. And one of those remaining sins is idolatry. Certainly, we don’t erect statues of wood or stone and bow down to them, but we will look for hope in people, circumstances, achievements, and material things. We will place our trust in ourselves or in money or in things under our control to rescue us from our troubles. We will make “if-only” lists and pursue their fulfillment.
The prophet Jeremiah spoke about Israel’s idolatry, for they too placed their hope in lesser things. They turned to Egypt for rescue and deliverance. They placed their trust in Assyria. God declared: “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” (Jer. 2:13). God says that they turned from the fountain and source of life, the Lord Himself, and instead turned to empty, useless counterfeits. They turned from their true deliverer to false rescuers.
We do the same when we place our own hope in anything apart from Christ. When we look to material things to comfort us in the stresses of life. When we look to our work to give our life meaning and purpose. When we look to other people or experiences for fulfillment. In all these ways and more, when we drink from the well of idolatry, we are always left thirsty. For no idol can satisfy hearts that were designed to love and worship God alone.
As the old hymn says, our hearts are prone to wander. We are constantly tempted to place our trust and hope in false saviors. This means that we must battle idolatry. We must uproot idols from our hearts and return to our first love, Jesus Christ. For He alone is the source of our hope. He alone is our rescuer and deliverer. He alone is our refuge and comfort.
Whenever we find ourselves thinking, “If only . . . ,” it’s a good indication that an idol lurks nearby. Instead, may we respond to all those “if-onlys” with “in Christ alone.”
Christina R. Fox is a counselor, retreat speaker, and author of several books, including A Holy Fear and Like Our Father. She also serves her local church in women’s ministry and crisis care and blogs at ChristinaFox.com.
“O my soul, set not thine affections upon rusting, moth-eaten, decaying treasures, but set thine heart upon Him who abides forever faithful to thee…Put thine all in Christ: set all thine affections on His person, all thy hope in His merit, all thy trust in His blood, all thy joy in His presence, and so thou mayest laugh at loss, and defy destruction…Go, sorrowing one of affliction, tell thy secrets to the Friend who sticketh closer than a brother. Trust all thy concerns with Him who never can be taken from thee, who will never leave thee, and who will never let thee leave Him, even ‘Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever.’ ‘Lo, I am with you always,’ is enough for my soul to live upon.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
"Grant me, O Lord, to know what is worth knowing,
to love what is worth loving,
to praise what delights you most,
to value what is precious to you,
and to reject whatever is evil in your eyes.
Give me true discernment,
so that I may judge rightly between things that differ.
Above all, may I search out and do
what is pleasing to you;
through Jesus Christ my Lord."
Thomas á Kempis
1380-1471
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