The book of Hosea sees Hosea’s life mirror Israel’s relationship with God. Here is a part that I was reading iin chapter 9 the other day.

When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree. But when they came to Baal Peor, they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol and became as vile as the thing they loved. Hosea 9:10 (NIV)

I love how God describes Israel in the first part of the verse. He describes them as refreshment in the midst of a drought and as the ‘first or early fruits.’ Those analogies may not feel as poignant today as they would have in a largely desert, agricultural context but imagine finding fruit growing in the middle of a barren arid area. How refreshing that taste would be? Think about the first fruits. Those first fruits were the promise of what was to come. If the first fruits were good, the rest of the harvest would be good.

This is how God describes His people. They are the refreshment and promise in a dry and difficult context.

However, we then hear how it all changes. As one preacher described it….here comes God’s big but! We hear about them coming to Baal Peor. Peor was a place famous for when Balaam and Balaak were watching the Israelites advancing. When it became clear that Balaam would be unable to curse the Israelites himself it was said that he advised the women of Midian to seduce the Israelites and get them to worship their Baal (their lord). This meant that they would cause God to curse them Himself. Baal Peor was the name of the god of that place. You can read more about Baal Peor here.

As we can read in the verse, they consecrated themselves to that idol and they became as vile as the thing they loved. This is such an interesting line.

That saying ‘you become what you love’ is one I had heard before but it’s truth became clear when I read it here. Anything that we love we will begin to imitate, reflect and ultimately resemble. Whatever we choose to love has power over us, whether that is a person, a sport, a place, a hobby etc. and so what we choose to love is vitally important for our lives.

I guess the super simple question is…what do we love and therefore what are we becoming? The two are inextricably linked and it is vital we identify what they are in our lives.