Cheap Substitutes

Isn’t funny how we tend to run to ‘Cheap Substitutes’ in life. We know that nothing is as good for us as good clear pure water yet we drink everything but it. The same with food, we constantly eat the stuff that tastes good even though we know it’s going to pile on the pies.
In the comic strip Charlie Brown, his wife asks, “do these trousers make my bottom big honey? No dear” he replies, “chocolate makes your bottom big.” For all you husbands reading this please do not try that line or you’re in the dog house.
I’ve been thinking lately how we do the same with spiritual things what’s true in our physical life is equally true in the spiritual realm. For centuries, people have turned to substitute gods, thinking they are just as satisfying as the living God. Wrong! A prophet named Jeremiah once lived in a culture a lot like ours, where this kind of lifestyle was common. Broken-hearted over the idolatry, he delivered God's message in bold, clear words: "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, they have dug for themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water at all." (Jeremiah 2:13)
“The fountain of living waters” sounds like a great place to eat, drink dwell and satisfy ourselves yet we run everywhere else except to the source of life itself. Think for the next few minutes about the “broken cisterns” in your own life…the things you give too much time and attention instead of drinking from “the fountain of living waters.” Be honest. As you identify them in your mind, admit them to God. Acknowledge what they are: cheap substitutes that can't satisfy. Even worse, they have taken the place of a genuine and deep relationship with the living Lord.
Come to the only one who can quench your thirsty soul today and live.