Religion is supposed to draw us closer to God—so why does it so often go wrong? In this post on Jeremiah 7:1–15, we stand with Jeremiah at the gate of the temple as God exposes a devastating misuse of religion: people saying the right words, performing the right rituals, and walking out unchanged. Instead of protecting them, their religion has become a way to get what they want, to hide from God, and to feel superior to others—until God finally tears it all down to invite them back to Himself.
In this post, we explore:
- Jeremiah’s “temple sermon” and why God sends him to confront worshipers at the very doors of the sanctuary
- How Judah was treating the temple like a spiritual lucky charm—trusting in “the temple of the Lord” while ignoring God’s commands and the needs of the vulnerable
- The first problem with religion: using religious activity as a way to get what we want—safety, success, blessing—rather than to know and trust God Himself
- The second problem: using rituals and Bible knowledge to hide our hearts from God, faking a relationship with Him while living in open contradiction to His ways
- Why God calls the temple a “den of robbers,” and how Jesus later picks up that same language when He cleanses the temple in His own day
- The warning from Shiloh: a former center of worship God allowed to be destroyed, and what it proves about trusting in places, buildings, and labels instead of the living God
- The third problem: using religion to compare ourselves to others and feel “better” than they are, as if God plays favorites with the more “religious” group
- The fourth and final problem: religion always disappoints when we use it to manage God or avoid Him—because God loves us too much to let substitutes satisfy us
- How God sometimes removes the very things we’ve trusted in (even good, religious things) not to abandon us, but to bring us to honest, humble relationship with Him
By the end of the post, you’ll see why God is willing to dismantle empty religion in order to rescue real faith. You’ll be invited to ask hard questions about how you use spiritual practices—are they ways to control outcomes, protect yourself, or feel superior, or are they invitations to know and love the living God? And you’ll be encouraged to come to Him not with religious performance, but with a honest, repentant heart that wants Him more than what He gives.
Series: Questions Jeremiah Answered
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