What comes to mind when you hear the word “fickle?” I realized I have been saying the word incorrectly forever because I added a “d” on the end. Now in an act of fickleness I am going to stop doing that. The “d” has vanished. At least I have a good reason to drop the “d.” Love for friends, family, church families, spouses, and even sports teams are targets of a sun that melts these relationships away like mist and dew. Falling in and out of love is common today. Faithfulness and loyalty are in short supply. Why are we so fickle? It is like society is ADD. Brand loyalty was big when I was growing up. Some families were Ford families. I was told that Ford meant “fix or repair daily.” Even today this phrase pops into my head when I see a Ford. In fact, my first car was a Ford Fairlane. I blew the engine on the way home from college. See there! My brother was into muscle cars. He had a nice Plymouth Fury II and a Desoto with a 500+ cubic inch engine that could do over 160 mph. I drive a Nissan and my wife drives a Toyota. So much for “made in America.” Why all this switching? It is all about the deal. We switch if we think we can get a better deal.
The Israelites at one time in their history were the most feared nation around. Others heard of the exodus from Egypt and the success of entering the Promised Land. The God of Israel was awesome. Israel was on the winning team. Then one day a queen named Jezebel introduced them to a new god named Baal and they fell head over heels in love with this new husband. God was now chopped liver. They have a new lover. This one is going to treat them right. Fickle! They didn’t stop there. There was Asherah, a female goddess. There was Dagon to whom they sacrificed their children. They became used to God-shopping.
Today this is husband-shopping, wife-shopping, church-shopping, doctor-shopping, friend-shopping, and on and on it goes. We are looking for a better deal. The underlying drive to find something “better” is a lack of contentment with what we have. When Jesus is enough, there is no need to look for another. Jesus warned His followers that many false “christs” would arise deceiving many. He warned that even the devil could transform himself into an angel of light. He warned us about different gospels that offered so-called better deals. He warned us that the love of many would grow cold. He warned us that we could lose our first love. He warned us about drifting away. He warned us about itching ears. He warned us about false prophets in sheep clothing. He warned us about family members who would sell us out. He warned us about looking back. He warned us about anxiety, discontentment, lack of focus, and forgetfulness. He warned us that it is our tendency to become fickle.
On a foggy morning, if I have the choice, I wait until the sun burns off the fog before I get in my car. When the dew covers the ground, I usually wait until the sun is up for a while before I work in the yard. However, when I was in 7th grade going into 8th, I worked one summer cropping tobacco. We began at 6 am rain or shine, fog and dew. I would be soaking wet by 6:30. But, by ten I was dry as a bone. From cold to burning hot within three hours. Then, the afternoon rains would come, and I would be soaked again, and cold. Then by 5:00 PM, when the sun came out, I was hot and caked with sand. All throughout the day I would go from one state to another. Life was fickle. There are too many aspects of life that by nature will be transitory, but love for God and others does not have to be two of them.