"Sorry I got caught"
"Israel is like a thief who feels shame only when he gets caught. They, their kings, officials, priests, and prophets— all are alike in this. To an image carved from a piece of wood they say, `You are my father.' To an idol chiseled from a block of stone they say, `You are my mother.' They turn their backs on me, but in times of trouble they cry out to me, `Come and save us!' (Jeremiah 2:26, 27 NLT)
My sister once went to a movie she wasn't supposed to go see. She told my parents she was going bowling but instead when to see "Dirty Dancing." By the way, compared to today's standards, I'm not sure "Dirty Dancing" could even be called inappropriate. But I digress.
When she got home, being the tender-hearted person she is, she confessed. She sat in her tears & told them about her lying. I'm sure she told them about Patrick Swayze as well.
My dad insisted that although she was older she must be punished. And he don't want to ground her. Someone must be spanked for this crime. But instead of him spanking her, she was required to spank him & he would take her punishment for her in her place.
Again, my tender hearted sister was reluctant. She cried even more at this thought. She began the punishment with some light strokes but my dad insisted she hit him harder. It may have been one of the most difficult things she has ever done. Great object lesson, right?
Well, almost. My sister's friend that she went to the movie with her also confessed to her parents. And her dad, upon hearing what my dad did, followed suit. Only this time, his daughter was not so reluctant. She nearly beat the man into a swollen mass. I guess that was a lesson in knowing your children's temperament.
The picture here is that one was sorry for what she had done & one was apparently sorry she got caught. Like speeding, when we are face to face with a police officer, we are often not sorry we broke the law but that we broke the law in front of the officer.
This is true with God's people in Jeremiah's prophecy here. They were broken hearted like a thief who gets caught. They were grieved that God was calling their sin into account, not that their sin was an affront to God & not that their sin was offensive to God! They were just sorry they would have to face the consequences of their sin & not sorry for the sin itself.
When it comes to our sin, what are we most sorry for? Sorry we got caught or sorry that we broke God's heart? The tendency in our lives is to be sorry for the negative consequences we face but not so much the fact that the heart of God is grieved.
But at the heart of sin is what it does to God & not what it does to us. The consequences of sin for us are hugely secondary compared to the effect it has on God. Not that he changes but that sin is offensive to God. It's rebellion against who he is. It's what John Piper calls, "A revolver in the face of God."
We definitely know we are like the people of Israel & in great need of repentance when we are much more sad we got caught than we are for the actual sin we have committed.
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