Come Home - All The Way Home

If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. Jeremiah 4:1

God is challenging Israel to repent.

1. Return unto me - like the prodigal son, return, go home to God. Not just leaving your current bad neighborhood in the far country and taking up residence in a different bad neighborhood in the far country. But going home - all the way home.

2. Put away thine abominations out of my sight - Don't bother packing up the idols we served in the far country, or the substances and vices that controlled us there. Put those abominations away out of God's sight. It's not enough to cleverly hide them behind a mask, but put them away out of God's sight. As long as they exist, aren't they in God's sight? So it's not just a putting away, tucking into a hidden corner of my heart, hiding from the sight of men, but it's a total destruction of those abominations.

And repentance doesn't mean just "taking off my mask". God didn't challenge Israel to "remove her mask", "be real", "be authentic", "be honest". God didn't challenge Israel to wear her abominations openly. He challenged her to destroy her abominations. Why has it suddenly become the noble thing to commit our sins openly?

God's view of repentance is more radical than ours, I believe. We think of it as a gradual change of direction. God thinks of it more like setting a bomb with a short fuse under our idol and then racing to flee from its eminent and total destruction.

Reminds me of Lot's flight from Sodom. Yes, Lot and company did indeed leave Sodom. Their outward actions suggested repentance and obedience. But their reluctance to leave reveals their heart in the matter. Didn't they stay as long as they could possibly stay? Leaving Sodom obviously grieved them in their hearts. Doesn't this indicate a lack of inward repentance?

We find that God wasn't satisfied with their outward repentance - leaving the city physically. He demanded inward repentance when He warned them not to even look back. He demanded that they abandon it with their very hearts, reserving no place of affection or sentimentality in their hearts.

I have a friend who always grieves over coming home from vacation, retreats, day trips, etc. She does everything she can do to prevent getting home. Extra stops along the way. Dragging out every stop as long as possible. Actually makes herself physically sick with the dread of getting home. Very puzzling. Why wouldn't she want to get home? Simple. She'd rather be somewhere else. Anywhere else. Her own home has no appeal for her. So is there something terribly wrong in her home? Or is there something terribly wrong in her heart?

Lately, it's become apparent that her dread of getting home is not confined to the physical realm. She's also been doing all she can do to prevent getting home to God. Why wouldn't she want to get all the way home to God? Simple. She'd rather be somewhere else. Anywhere else. God's home has no appeal for her. So is there something terribly wrong in God's home? Or is there something terribly wrong in her heart?

The current "stop" that she's dragging out as long as possible is this idea that we can build a relationship with God without going all the way home. A simple matter of re-writing the parable of the prodigal son, and Lot's flight from Sodom, and Jeremiah's prophecy to Israel, etc. A simple matter of re-defining what it means to come home. All the way home. God says, "return to me" first. Then He says, "put away thine abominations out of my sight." Come home. Come all the way home.