The Faithfulness Principle

Scripture:
(7)“How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores.
(8) They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor's wife. Jeremiah 5:7-8

Observation: Jeremiah describes two kinds of unfaithfulness—Spiritual unfaithfulness, as people leave their God to pursue other gods (7) and marital unfaithfulness, as men leave their wives to “neigh” for other wives (8). I think there is a connection: Infidelity in one area leads to infidelity in another.

Application: I have discovered that unfaithfulness in one area of my life inevitably leads to unfaithfulness in another area. To use another metaphor, when the walls of my life are broken down in one area, say my purity or my time with God, then the walls seems to crumble in other areas as well. It is a ripple effect. The good news is that when I seek God and rebuild walls in one area, get one area under control, then the other walls are easier to rebuild and maintain. So the simple act of repenting in one area, and beginning to be faithful in that area actually helps strengthen the other areas as well. For me, one of the easiest walls to ignore is this devotional time with God. When I neglect it, other areas of my life begin to crumble. When I maintain it, God shows me how to rebuild other walls. Jeremiah discovered this principle: Faithfulness breeds faithfulness and unfaithfulness breeds unfaithfulness.

Prayer: God, let me pay attention to the walls of my life. Help me continue to be faithful spiritually, so I do not breed unfaithfulness in my marriage, like the people of Jeremiah’s day did. Keep me passionately pursuing you. Thanks for your principle of faithfulness, and for your power to change me.