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You’re probably familiar with the old adage, “You are what you eat.” Basically, this saying is meant to convey the idea that depending on the direction of your diet, so goes the direction of your health and body. In Hosea 10:10, the reader is given something very near to that old adage that amounts to, “You become like what you love,” or in Israel’s case, “But they came to Baal-Peor and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame, and became detestable like the thing they loved.”

As the book of Hosea drills down a bit further on the reaping/sowing, aka cause/effect, principle that God has authored into creation, we see an Israel knee-deep in the harvested effects of their infidelity and idolatry against the Lord. They are a people that has “plowed iniquity,” “reaped injustice,” and “eaten the fruit of lies” (Hos. 10:13) in trusting false gods, their “own way,” and “the multitude of [their] warriors.” As the objects of Israel’s love and trust are identified, so we find a clear direction and trajectory–you become like what you love. And the same is true of us!

As I inventory what receives my thought, attention, resources, focus, devotion, etc., I find a straight line toward how I conduct my life. Isn’t this exactly what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount when He said, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” (Matt. 6:21)? Without fail, the cause-and-effect principle finds us in our treasures.

What do you find when you examine your days, weeks, months, and years? What gets your thoughts, attention, resources, focus, and devotion? Whatever the answers are to those questions, we can be absolutely sure–that is where our lives are headed.

Together, may we learn from Israel again and:

  • Make God and His ways our supreme love and treasure
  • Identify and dethrone those things we have given God’s rightful place in our lives