it's a subject that I feel like God speaks to me about fairly regularly. No, I don't have any little statues, no shrines, no plates of food or offerings of money or other valuables left for another god. But an idol is anything that I try to use to fill God's place. When I feel spiritually hungry, where do I turn? To food? To other people? To dreaming about my future? To anything other than Jesus? ...it's an idol, then.
The difficult things are these:
I don't have something physical that I can destroy. No idol, no temple, no symbol of what I'm worshipping.
How do I love people and love what I do and love the God-given dreams I have... without putting them in the place of greatest importance, which only He can fill?
To God be the glory... not to me, not to anything else.
So, living in the present... not idolizing any hopes of future, not grasping to my dreams. Loving with an open hand. Waiting patiently. Trusting that He Who Sees knows better than these deceitful eyes and this deceitful heart. Living as Israel -- struggler -- and learning to put my confidence in the Lord.
Learning to "hang the weight of my soul" on the only One who can sustain it.
4 comments:
Crazy how we can be so far away and still be thinking and learning about the same things! The big God of the universe brings our small hearts together with his spirit! I love you, friend.
marshall spoke about this once and used some imagry that really helped me (i still do it today!). he said when he realizes he has made an idol, he envisions an altar. the he brings that idol to the altar and sacrifices it to God. leaving it there and not allowing it to come back to life.
gotta love that marsh-man.
hey friends... thanks for the comments! and mary... that's some hard-core imagery... just what idolatry deserves!
but how do we de-throne idols when they're people who are still going to be in our lives? i think it's easier when I'm in that place... to sacrifice myself... but others?
hmm... yes i see the issue wiht that. maybe the imagery you can use, instead of using an actual person, is your elevating that person's opinion of you/investment in you/attention he/she give you. i don't think the actual person is the idol, rather how you are perceiving his/her actions and taking them to heart (or applying them to your identity). does that make sense?
Post a Comment