Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Identity
- Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father. Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.
God asks
Jeremiah to go and find a linen belt.
Some translations call this a loincloth.
The main point of this garment is that it is a belt that went around the
waist and held a person’s undergarments to their body. Being close to the body, you would want it to
be clean and smooth so that it wouldn’t chafe.
Then
Jeremiah is told to go and bury the loincloth.
Like all things organic, the water in the soil and the soil itself works
on the linen and destroys it. The linen
is no longer clean. It is no longer smooth.
If worn, the linen belt will chafe the body uncomfortably. In other words, the linen belt has lost its
ability to be useful. It has lost its
identity.
God
reminds us that this linen garment is an analogy for His people. They have allowed themselves to be corrupted
in the world. They lust after things
that are not of God. Their heart desires
that for which God has not made them. In
their passion, they become soiled. They
become something that chafes when used.
God’s people have lost their identity.
Why does
this happen? God tells us why as we
close out this chapter. The people are
proud. They are self-centered. They care only about themselves. We only care about the crown of greatness
that we can make for ourselves that we don’t even realize when that crown of
earthly greatness becomes our very bondage.
We lose our identity and find ourselves soiled for the purposes of God.
Thankfully,
we can know forgiveness. We can try
again. We can be made clean again. We may lose our identity, but God enables it
to not be lost forever. Our identity can
always be restored through God.
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