In the end of Numbers 15, God tells the Israelites to put a reminder right on their clothes so that every time they see it, they will remember to obey His commands.
Why? It says, “You shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord your God.”
He wants them to know Him, to know He is theirs and they are His. That’s what it means to be holy to your God; it means being set apart. It means being His alone.
It’s not because He is needy. It’s because He loves His children. He wants what is best for them. What He knows they need to avoid is following their deceitful hearts.
They are to put a tassel on their garments. God says, “It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, so that you will do them and not follow your own heart and your own eyes, which led you to prostitute yourselves.” (NASB)
Following your own heart leads to prostitution. Wow. They don’t put that part in the greeting cards or Hallmark movies.
What does it mean? It means they sold themselves to other gods. Most of us don’t carve statues and pray to them, but we ignore God to go after money or power or what we think is love or whatever else is grabbing our hearts or eyes. Those are idols. For instance, the Bible is clear that you can’t love God and money.
Anything drawing our hearts away from God is an idol. Anything that leads us to ignore what we know we should do or shouldn’t do is an idol. Idols need destroying, smashing, burning, obliterating.
Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)
Where can you put reminders in your world to remember to keep your eyes on Jesus, to check your heart that it’s after Jesus and nothing else?
We humans forget and get distracted so easily. Put up a reminder. Stay focused on the one Truth that cannot be shaken.