Familiarity Breeds Contempt

When the UPS delivery company became the popular way for businesses to send their packages, the company came up with a rule that stated that a delivery driver would not be allowed to make deliveries on the same route longer than 6 months. The reasoning behind this decision was to prevent a driver from becoming friends or “talking buddies” to the people that they were delivering to. The thinking was that if a driver became friends with someone on the route, they may spend time talking with them rather than delivering packages. The idea behind this rule is that “familiarity breeds contempt.”

In Jeremiah chs. 2-5, YAHWEH points to idolatry as the reason for His anger towards Israel. Idol worship was the cause of a major breach in their relationship with Him (Isa. 59:2). The biblical definition of idolatry is “(T)he worship of someone or something other than God as though it were God.” Ezekiel ch. 8 informs us that during this time in Israel's history idolatry was rampant throughout the country. It was even practiced by the religious leaders in the temple in Jerusalem. 

Apparently, God's people weren't convinced that His love, protection, and provision were sufficient to meet their needs, so they worshiped other gods as well to make sure they were receiving everything they believed they needed and deserved. Keep in mind that Israel had entered into a relationship with God based on the Mosaic covenant just before they entered Canaan (Lev. 26; Deut. 28). The Lord compared Israel's propensity to worship idols as “spiritual prostitution.” Think about it. In God's eyes, idolatry was as disgusting and egregious as one spouse being intimate with someone other than their spouse right in front of him/her! 

Unfortunately, the same thing can happen to us as Christ followers. We become so used to receiving God's grace and mercy that we have a tendency to downplay the destructive nature of sin because we know that if we sincerely repent God is going to forgive us (1 John 1: 5-10). We are also convinced that we're not going to lose our salvation no matter what we do. We tend to minimize the effect of sin and how God reacts to it, which is a “familiarity breeds contempt" way of thinking.

Sadly, all of us are susceptible to idolatry. The last sentence in 1 John is the exhortation to “guard yourselves from idols” (5: 21). A believer practices idolatry when he/she becomes convinced that the Lord isn't providing everything we believe that we need and want, so we turn to other so-called gods to fulfill our desire for “the good life." The fact is, the Lord knows exactly what we need in order to thrive and He has pledged Himself to supply it (Mt. 6: 25-34).

Some believers buy into the lie that they have to have everything their heart desires in order to be happy and prove that He loves them- things like more money, good health, lots of material things, or a nice home in a great neighborhood. The secret for experiencing the "good life” is to be content with what we already have. 1 Timothy 6: 6 states "Now godliness combined with contentment brings great profit” (NET). Granted, it's not always easy to be content with what the Lord supplies us. The apostle Paul confessed that even he had to learn to be content with whatever the Lord determined that he needed to live (Philippians 4: 10-12). 

John Piper wrote, “God is most glorified when we are most satisfied with Him." Perhaps we should take some time to examine our heart, God helping us, to know whether or not we are truly satisfied with what our Lord has determined we need to experience the "good life”  knowing that we don't deserve one good thing from Him. It has been said that if we knew everything that God knows, we would choose the life we are living because He can only do what is good for us. The life we have been given really is the “the good life."  Perhaps we should take the time daily to practice thankfulness to our Lord for the good things He gives us on a moment by moment basis. 

Praise God for His unfailing, loyal love.