Category Archives: Idolatry

Admiring the Decor

Posted on May 27, 2011 | Leave a comment

Let’s imagine, for a moment, that a mutual friend of ours just invited you and I over to their home to celebrate the birth of a new born baby boy. You and I walk into their home and are quickly escorted down the hallway to the nursery to see the child, but upon entering the room, we become enamored with the beautiful work the family did with the remodel. We rave about the paint job and the trim work. We “absolutely love” the craftsmanship of the matching crib and changing table. The stuffed elephants and giraffes are “so freaking awesome,” and we can’t wait to hold “that beautiful little baby blanket.” The whole time is spent ranting and raving over all the details in the room, but not the baby itself. How do you assume the parents would respond?

In my mind, annoyed would be the putting it mildly. They wouldn’t be able to understand why we are so enamored with the decorations, but don’t want anything to do with the one the decorations are for.

Absurd, right? Maybe not.

As I have been reading in the book of Ezekiel, there was an interesting little section that caught my eye. It says, “They put on sackcloth, and horror covers them. Shame is on all faces… They cast their silver into the streets, and their gold is like an unclean thing. Their silver and gold  are not able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord… For it was the stumbling block of their iniquity. His beautiful ornaments they used for pride, and they made their abominable images and their detestable things from it” (Ezek. 7:18-20). When God came, the people were left in shame because they spent so much time admiring the decorations.

In Ezekiel, and through much of the Bible, the major issue God takes up with humanity is this kind of idolatry. Romans 1:25 says it like this: “they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”

God created this whole universe as nothing more than ornaments meant to magnify His glory. In the course of time, His glory was even manifest inside the created universe in human form with the birth of a Son – Jesus Christ – who was “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). But humanity, refused to pay attention to God, or to His Son, because they were too busy glorifying the decor.

To say the least, humanity is stupid. We would rather worship rocks and trees and wood (most of the time in the shapes of cars, houses, or jewelry), rather than worship the One who made it all.

But hear Ezekiel’s warning: “Their silver and gold (i.e. their stuff) are not able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord.”

You can spend your whole life pursuing the things of this world, and in the end it gets you nothing. “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” Or you can look to the Son of God, and as the old song says, “the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” As Pastor Tullian Tchividjian is fond of saying, “Jesus + Nothing = Everything.”

God gave you this life to admire His Son. Don’t waste time worshipping His stuff instead.

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Battling Busyness

Posted on May 12, 2011 | 2 Comments

I hate the word “busy.”

For the last few weeks, and not getting any better in the near future, things have been pretty crazy. My shifts at work have been pushing 12.5 hours regularly. I have been doing some various fundraising for my trip to Uganda this summer. The work for church is, of course, never ending. Throw in there a funeral and almost a week of killer allergies to the point of losing my voice. Still to come is my brother’s wedding and a trip to Ohio on my next two weekends off. Needless to say, the word ‘busy’ absolutely describes my life right now. And it is also my most hated word in the English language.

It seems like not too long ago, the standard reply was “fine,” when people asked how you were, because you had to respond in such a way that would not be a burden to the one who asked, yet still convey that, despite minor frustrations, life is progressing as normal. But today, in most conversations, the expected response when asked how you are has changed to “busy.” Oftentimes even being said as a proud response, in such a way as to convey a certain level of importance. “Not only do I have a life, but I have so much of a life I can’t handle it all…”

After various mission trips to Mexico, Ukraine, and Uganda, I really had to let it soak into me that business is not something that should be sought after or valued because rather than proving you have a life, it usually means you are incapable of such a thing. And worst of all, when I get too busy it is often my relationships with God and with people that suffer the most.

In my relationship with God, what I have seen to be true over and over again, is that if I don’t intentionally make time to spend with Him, it won’t happen. Now, I know that you have heard that over and over, but let me add to it a little bit. Not only will I not take time to read the Bible and spend time in prayer and meditation, but my whole attitude changes from one in which I see myself first and foremost as a child of God, to an identity found in what I am doing, whether that is Pastor, Truck Driver, Missionary, or whatever. The thing that makes me busy, and leads to my frustrations begins to consume me to the point it become the way I identify myself. My success in those things begins to give me a sense of self-worth, and I begin to lose sight of God’s reality for my life.

It is at these times that I even begin to see a fundamental shift in the way my mind works, where instead of living in light of the Gospel, I functionally begin living as if it is within my own work ethic and morality where I am supposed to find my salvation or achieve my sanctification.

Typically I am a hard worker. I want to be the best at my job, so I try to learn quickly and then set myself about things at a strong pace. I want to do more than what is expected of me and I want to be able to help others in their jobs as well. A lot of this comes from the culture I was raised in, and these are good things. The problem is that I can then begin to look at those around me and begin to get arrogant about how good I am, and how hard I work in comparison to how lazy or incapable they are. This leads to a level of pride within me giving me a sense that I have achieved a level of worthiness and that I am somehow better than the others. This is a level of pride, I think, is inherent in us country folk, and it is something I continually have to battle to overcome.

Then, to make matters worse, in those times when I get overworked, frustrated, sick, or exhausted, I often find myself incapable or unwilling to keeping up the standards I set for myself. It is in those times I begin to feel condemnation or a feeling of not being good enough. These frustrations in turn, often lead to a further compromise in my morals – not doing a job right, leaving something for someone else to do, etc. If I can be blunt about it, it is a horrible downward spiral until I finally reach a “screw it” attitude. I get so agitated by the standards I know am not living up to, that in an effort to cast it all off, I quit trying, or even actively go the other way. Many times when this happens, this frustration will spill over into other areas of my life, and temptation starts to hit hard.

Although daily work and such are usually viewed separately from our ‘spiritual’ life, all of this undeniably has a major effect on my relationship to God. When I am not living up to whatever moral or ethical standards I know I should, it is sin and it separates me from the fellowship with Him.

(I am NOT saying that meeting those standards makes me acceptable to Him, it is Christ having met those standards that makes me acceptable. But my blatant rebellion against any effort to meet those standards makes fellowship with God difficult to maintain.)

To put it simply, it is easy for me to worship God and build on that relationship when things are easy and I am living right, but when things get busy and life hits, I cut myself off from Him in an effort to become my own savior. I will work harder and longer striving for success, until I am fully exhausted, spiritually worn down, and have to give up.

To make it simpler still, when things get to busy, I turn from Christ and look to my ability to be successful in all things to be my salvation. And it fails every time.

Busyness hurts my relationship with God because it undermines Christ’s role in my life and in a self-centered and self-seeking mode, I forfeit the help of the Holy Spirit in my sanctification.

Confessions

So, I confess that it is too easy for me to find my identity more in what I do than in Christ. I confess that when I successfully handle my busyness, I feel acceptable to God. I confess that when I fail at handling my busyness that I feel unworthy. And I confess that I know these are all false truths found in my sinful, prideful, idolatrous heart. The only fix is in the Gospel.

Lessons

1. I must battle my busyness.

Because our society values busyness, I must remind myself that busyness is not something to be desired or celebrated. Therefore, I must strive to manage my time well, so that times of busyness don’t creep up on me more than necessary. And, because occasional busyness is inescapable, I must continually prepare myself mentally and spiritually to handle them with the help of God’s Spirit in such a way that will not wreck my relationship with God.

2. I must preach the gospel to myself daily.

Busy or not, as a Christian the Gospel is where I must find my identity. Because it is so easy for other things to slip in and claim that role, I must daily remind myself of who I am in Christ because of what He had done on our behalf. I must seek God daily through spiritual disciplines such as Bible study and prayer. And most of all, I must remember that this is a relationship I am cultivating, not just another item on my to-do list.

This blog has been a very personal one because it is something I struggle with a lot. The question is, what about you? How does busyness affect your relationship with God? How do you handle those times? What are some other lessons that we as Christians must learn from all of this to defend ourselves from pride and false saviors? That’s what the comment link is for…

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Naaman and the Idols of Our Hearts

Posted on February 24, 2011 | 4 Comments

As our church is going through changes in pastoral staff, I had the opportunity to teach the youth group this week. In teaching on Naaman in the Old Testament, I found a few characters in the story that many of us can relate to, and thought it would be valuable to share.

The story of Naaman can be found in 2 Kings 5. He is the commander of the Syrian army, a warrior of great standing who had won many battles. Because of his success, he had found great favor with his King, and they had become close. The only mark on Naaman’s life is that he suffers from leprosy.

In the story, an Israelite slave girl tells Naaman of the prophet Elisha living in Samaria who has the God-given ability to heal him of his leprosy. Naaman goes to his King and makes the request to go see the prophet. The king, however, sends Naaman with a letter to the King of Israel instead, asking him to heal Naaman. The King of Israel goes into a rage. This letter is asking him to do the impossible, and rather than looking to his God for the miracle, he tears his clothes and makes a public showing that his Kingdom is intentionally being set up for an attack.

Elisha hears of what happened, and sends a note to the king for Naaman to be sent to him. Naaman goes, but is met instead by a messenger from Elisha to go dip in the Jordan river seven times, and he will be healed. Naaman, instead of rejoicing in the news that he will be healed, throws a fit of his own. “Does this prophet know who I am,” he seems to ask. “And are not the rivers back in Syria much better than the Jordan.” Naaman, feeling that his own personal status has been attacked because the prophet wouldn’t look him in the eye, and had sent a messenger telling him to do some detestable thing, ignores the message and starts to return home.

Fortunately for Naaman, there are men with him who did not share his level of pride, and they press him to “do this simple thing.” Naaman does, and is immediately healed from his leprosy. He returns to Elisha’s house bearing gifts of silver and gold, and many new clothes, but Elisha refuses to accept them. Naaman then takes some dirt from Israel home with him and vows to never worship any god but the God of Elisha. He then makes this request: “Please forgive me, because when I return home I will go into the temple with the king, and as he bows to worship, I will bow also.” Elisha sends him away in peace.

Shortly after Naaman is gone, Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, decides that Elisha had made a great mistake by not taking the gifts. He goes after Naaman, makes up a story as to why Elisha had changed his mind, returns with the gifts and hides them for himself. The problem for Gehazi is that his boss is a prophet, and God had shown Elisha exactly what went down. Elisha then tells Gehazi that his punishment for what he had done is that from now on, he hand his children would carry Naaman’s leprosy.

 

What’s the Point?


As I studied this story out, there were four characters that caught my attention because of where they looked to build and maintain their identity.

The first character is the King of Israel. He is the king of God’s people. He knew the stories of how God had delivered them over and over again. He knew the law and the promise of God. Yet, when time came to look to God, he doesn’t. He instead laments that his Kingship is being threatened. His identity comes through his success as a leader and maintaining peace, and when it seems that may be taken away, the King cannot handle it. His relationship with God is hurt by his desire for power and success.

The second character that sticks out is Gehazi. He is a prophet. Anyone in full-time ministry knows that that means his pay isn’t that great. Gehazi throws everything he has away when the opportunity to get rich quick comes his way. He is all about the bling. His relationship with God is hurt by his greed.

The third character, and the one that stand out so prominently to me, is Naaman. Naaman has attained great social status in Syria. He is friends with the King, and can do or have anything he wants. He is a national hero. A celebrity of sorts. When he comes to Israel, God does an awesome work in his life, to the point that Naaman vows to never worship any other God. The one thing Naaman refuses to do, however, is to live that out in front of others. It is clear that he has no intention of letting his newfound ‘love’ for God get in the way of his social status at home. He will go through all the motions to maintain his friendship with the King and his celebrity status in Syria, even if it means making the appearance of worship in the temples of Syria’s false Gods. Naaman’s relationship with God is hurt by his need for social status.

And the final character is, of course, Elisha the prophet. Elisha has a history of committing himself to his relationship with God. He spends time in fellowship with the Lord, and his life exemplifies that, no matter what anyone thinks. Elisha could have publicly embarrassed the King of Israel by making a show of what he could do. He could have made a great friend of Naaman, the commander of the army of Israel’s enemy, and never worried about an attack on himself. And Elisha could have used what God was doing through him to, televangelist style, make a name for himself and get very very rich. But through it all, Elisha cared more about his relationship with God, than he did for money, success, or status.

For most of us, the challenge comes when we have to make the decision of who we will love more – our creator, God, or the stuff He created. See, there is nothing wrong with success, or money, or status, so long as you can still fully submit yourself to God. But if those things hinder your relationship with Him, they have become idols of your heart, and need to be destroyed. That is the lesson Gehazi learned the hard way. What is it going to take for us to learn it ourselves?

 

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God’s Business?

Posted on February 17, 2011 | 1 Comment

I keep a moleskin notebook in my back pocket and find myself jotting down different thoughts, cool ideas, or little to-do lists for myself as a way of freeing up brain space for other stuff. Last week I wrote down the thought I want to share this week but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. So for this week’s post I thought I’d open up a discussion and get you guys’ feedback on it.

Remembering back to Bible college, I remember being taught that there were three human institutions that God created. First was the family, second was civil government, and third was the church. But is seems to me that this list leaves out one other major institution that doesn’t fall under the other three. I mean, for instance, education should fall somewhat under all three of these categories. But my mind can’t seem to categorize business or commerce under any of the three. So here is what I wrote in my moleskin:

“Thought: God created three institutions: Family, Government, and Church.

All three are intended for the benefit of the whole community.

No evidence is given, however, that God instituted Business, yet by the time the Old Testament law was given, it was clear that business already existed. He only gave principles that guide it.

Could it be that God didn’t institute it because business is only intended for the benefit of individuals, even at the cost of community?”

Just in case that isn’t clear, what I am trying to say is that the three institutions God for sure created were created to propagate, guide, and spiritually lead the community to unity under Himself. Business however doesn’t do that. Instead, it builds profit for certain individuals within the community from the pockets of the rest. Business isn’t intended to help the community.

We know that God gave guiding principles on things like money, lending, slaves, and integrity. All of those things definitely guide how we should do business. But there is no place in the Bible where God actually starts a business, as He did a family (with Adam and Eve), or Government (Adam broke the law…), or the Church (which Jesus built).

Now, I am not attempting to imply that business is necessarily wrong. Jesus Himself would have worked in the family trade as a child, as did all of the Apostles. All I am getting at is that if business is a man-idea, and even though it is all we have ever known, is there a better alternative?

So here is where you come in. I have a lot of different thoughts about a lot of different aspects about this topic, but I want to hear yours? Do you think there is a better way to utilize your ‘goods and services’ that are meant for everyone’s benefits instead of just your own? What do you think the world of commerce will look like in the world to come (God’s Kingdom that is)? Or maybe you think I’m wrong, and God did institute business. Whatever you want to add to the topic is fair game. All you have to do is click ‘Add Comment’

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Idolatry

Posted on January 18, 2010 | Leave a comment

In Christianity, the goal of life is to draw close to Christ and be conformed to His likeness. This is what the word Christian means – “little Christ” or “like Christ.” When someone first starts out on this path into Christ-likeness, known as “getting saved,” they will immediately begin to see how certain things in their lives which they thought they controlled, actually have control of them. These addictions from our old lives carry over into our new Christian life, they don’t just disappear.

For example, someone may drink a lot of alcohol, do ‘recreational drugs’ or look at online pornography regularly. Most of us who have dealt with these former addictions know that it is not an overnight fix just because you come to faith in Christ. There are usually big battles that go along with it. And even some who have been Christians for years are still battling to overcome these former temptations and desires.

What happens in Christian churches, then, is that it becomes very easy to set up a list of do’s and don’ts that will define healthy spirituality for it’s members. By these standards, the believer is then able to judge how far along he has come, and by default, compare himself with the others around him who still struggle.

Now, defeating sin is always a great accomplishment and should be celebrated by the fellowship of believers, but we cannot declare ourselves victorious over sin completely just because we have managed to keep a man-made list. We all still sin regularly, even if it is not publicly noticeable or culturally taboo.

As I have studied the Bible what I find is that there is one sin that seems to be the root of all the others. This is the sin of idolatry. It is when we put something else in the place of God.

The Bible teaches very clearly that as God created everything; He is central to everything. He is the ultimate authority. He is the definition of good and right. He is the one who decided that truth is truth. But, when man was put in the garden surrounded God’s authority and truth, he bought into a lie and claimed God’s authority as his own (see Genesis 1-3).

Since that time, at the very core of man’s being, is the desire to worship himself, or any other created thing, rather than the God of the universe (see Romans 1). Now, this plays out in an infinite number of ways, because no two people are the same. My idolatry leads me to sin in ways that your idolatry would lead you to thing is stupid. But, nevertheless, the idolatry we hold in our hearts continually tells us that God is a liar, He is not infinitely good, and even if He says something is true, we can still question it.

This is what gives me the assumed right to do what I want, when I want, despite what anyone thinks, and if morality is called into question, I can reply, “well, that may be true for you, but not for me…” What I find, though, is that there are three major things wrong with idolatry that we cannot excuse our way out of..

The first problem with our idolatry is that it robs God of the worship due to Him from us.

The central theme of the Bible is that God created us to give Him glory through our worship of Him. According to the Westminster Catechism and Dr. John Piper, we are to glorify Him in our enjoyment of Him. To be honest, though, to a Christ-following sinner this sounds a lot easier than it is to actually do because our desire to worship God is constantly at war with our inherent sin which keeps us from it (see Romans 7:18-20).

The major problem is that even though our natural inclination is toward idolatry, it doesn’t excuse us from our biblical, God-given obligation to live our lives in the outpouring of worship to Him. Now this doesn’t mean we spend all day in a pew singing hymns and praying, but it means that when we are hanging out with friends, eating, working, attending class, or whatever our “hand finds to do,” we are doing it with the intention of glorifying God (see 1 Corinthians 10:31).

The purpose behind our being created was to worship and honor God, and so when we fall to the sin of idolatry, we are not living in the purpose for our existence.

The second problem with our idolatry is that it robs God of the glory due to Him from the idol.

See, the problem with our idolatry is that we automatically default back on the sin of pride and we simply assume that others are not affected by it.

In reality, though, the person or the thing that becomes an idol to us should be counted as a blessing and a gift from God. By receiving the blessing our hearts should give thanks to God for it, which gives God the glory not only for our worship, but because the glory of that thing is properly pointed to God as well, rather than becoming and idol. He is not only exalted by us, but by this object also.

In our culture there are many things that can easily make their way into the idol category – cars, sports teams, clothes, money, fame, etc., etc. When that occurs though, God not only loses our worship, but the glory He should also receive from those things as well.

The third problem with our idolatry is that it robs God of the testimony received by onlookers.

Whether we like it or not, the truth is that when we say we are Christians, people begin watching our lives to see if it matches our words. When we give that worship due to God to idols instead, people will learn from our lives that God is not who He (or we) say He is.

In my office, over my desk, I have a passage from 1 Corinthians 6, from the Message Bible. It says, “Our work as God’s servants gets validated – or not – in the details. People are watching us…” When we don’t worship God as God, they will not come to know who He is.

So the question is, what are your idols?

We must be honest enough to identify and deal with the things that are disrupting our worship of God, offering their glory in the wrong direction, and sending the wrong message to non-believers. We must confess and repent. And God will forgive. And God will heal. And God will get the glory He deserves.

 

So, as usual, feel free to discuss by clicking the comment link below…

 

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All Things Work Together for the Good of Who?

Posted on November 25, 2008 | 2 Comments

Ok, first of all I am sorry to everyone bugging me because I still haven’t written. Secondly, I don’t know how many of you listen to my sermons but I will include the player at the bottom of this post. The topic from Sunday night (1 Peter 4)goes along well with what I am about to write about.Third, although I have been thinking about all of this for a while, writing this down is still me working through some of it so don’t criticize if you think I am wrong, we can discuss it in the comments section below.

So, I have been thinking a lot about the fact that we love to quote the verse that says, “…God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God…” (Romans 8:28, NASB). The problem is that too many of us just try to use it to justify our own selfishness. Random example, let’s say that I have been engaged in online gambling because I want a new car. Perhaps I find a way to manipulate the system to win more often than not, so I am quickly getting the money I need for the car. Then, someone finds out that I am cheating the system and I lose all the money and now am facing criminal charges. BUT, I am a Christian and I know that “all things work together for good to those who love God…”

Now, yes, that was a spur of the moment example, and no, I don’t think that most of us would cheat at internet gambling (unless we knew how…), but I think the attitude is the same: I am thinking only about me, then when it doesn’t work out my way I can always trust that it is God’s plan and there will not be consequences for my self-loving actions.

Simple response: God forgives sins, but until He returns there will be consequences in this life for our actions.

Extended response: Before we use this verse as a comfort to our selfishness-gone-wrong, we need to understand what the qualifier is in the statement. It says that God will work all things for the good of who? Not just everyone who calls themselves Christian. God will work it out for “those who love God.”

I think that this little qualifying statement has much to say to many Christians who are disillusioned with their faith and angry at God because He didn’t do what they supposed, or were told He would do. An example of this would be the many people who put money in the ministries of televangelists like they were slot machines in Vegas. Now, do I think that God will bless our financial giving, especially when it is sacrificial. Yes, when done with right intentions. But we must remember that God is continually examining the heart of people and if the heart of the person is saying, “I am going to give this money because then God will give me more money in return,” this is revealing a person who does not love the Lord, but is filled with greed. This just sounds more reliable than the lottery, so they put their money here instead.

At the root of it all, I am convince that the dividing line in humanity is this: there are those who love God, and there are those who love themselves as god. Throughout the Bible we see men obeying God to the best of their sinful ability, but in the end there is no blessing for them because they are doing it out of pride and selfishness (for examples see Christ’s condemnation of the Pharisees in Matthew 23). And on the other hand we see men in the Bible who continually fail miserably at living in obedience to God, but because of their love for Him there is forgiveness for them (for examples of this read about the life of King David).

I think that the problem that continually arises within Christianity is that we don’t advertise this on our signs or even preach it in our sermons. We confuse people by telling them that if they will simply recite a prayer then there is forgiveness and then send them on their way.

The message of the Gospel is that “we love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). The goal of sanctification is that we learn to love ourselves less and to love Jesus more. And the essence of discipleship is that we teach people how to do that. Then, the message of hope that we can hold to is that no matter what suffering and persecution comes in this life (John 15:18-20) I know that it is only because of my love/love relationship with the Lord and He is going to work it all out for my good in the end.

I know of no better example in the Bible than the life of Joseph beginning in Genesis 37. Joseph knows that God has placed a blessing on his life and so he never gives up hope. When he tells his brothers what God has told him they throw him into a pit plotting murder, then decided to sell him into slavery (but Joseph loves the Lord and knows he is in God’s hands). While in slavery to Potiphar, Joseph is blessed by God to the place of power in his master’s household. Then as we see Potiphar’s wife propositioning Joseph we hear of Joseph’s relationship with God as he asks, “How could I sin against God like that?” (Gen. 39:9). As the story goes on, Joseph is cast into prison, where God still gives him a ministry, and then uses the time in jail to raise Joseph to second in command over all of Egypt. At the end of the story, as we see Joseph showing mercy to his brothers, he makes this statement: “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…” (Gen. 50:19-20).

Joseph loved God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind, and because of that relationship he knew that “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God.”

So what about you? Do you love God above all, or do you still buy into the lie that you are the god of your life (Gen. 3:5)? If you are your own god, then don’t expect the blessing of the One, True God on your life (or death).

I want your comment and thoughts. Also, for another study into this idea, I suggest reading about the life of King Asa found in 2 Chronicles 14-16, paying special attention to 16:9 (thanks Micah).

And here is the sermon audio. Sunday night is #7.

http://www.gabcast.com/mp3play/mp3player.swf?file=http://www.gabcast.com/casts/23492/rss/rss.xml&config=http://www.gabcast.com/mp3play/config.php?ini=full.0.l

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Posted in Evangelism & Missions, Idolatry, Jesus & The Gospel

Kingdom Builders – but Whose Kingdom?

Posted on October 30, 2008 | 2 Comments

This morning I have been reading through the book of Amos. This is probably my favorite book in the Bible as it clearly demonstrates what the intentions of the law were and what God’s heart is for His people.

The central message of the book is that every human being has become a tyrant fighting to overthrow God, the one good King. In this effort we have thrown everyone else to the ground where we attempt to walk all over them. We are building our own kingdoms under the delusion that our ways are better than than Gods and that we are just as capable of running things as He is. This was the temptation which led to the first sin, and it is the same temptation that creeps in on us every moment of every day, especially on those of us who know the Lord and what He requires, but often decide to do it our way, anyway.

This attitude is one of pride and arrogance, and is demonstrated well in Amos 2:6-8, “…they have perverted justice by selling honest people for silver and poor people for a pair of sandals. They trample helpless people in the dust and deny justice to those who are oppressed. Both father and son sleep with the same woman, corrupting My holy name. At their religious festivals, they lounge around in clothing stolen form their debtors. In the house of their God, they present offerings of wine purchased with stolen money.”

In our arrogance we find ourselves thinking that we are better than that. I mean, I have never sold anyone for a pair of shoes or any of that stuff. But we must look at the heart of the issue. These accusations that the Lord brings against His people are that they still don’t understand that all people are created in His image and worthy of being treated fairly. We may not sell the neighborhood kids for a new pair of Sketchers, but too often we do treat our relationships as a means for personal gain.

God continues in Amos 5:21, in one of the most terrifying passages of scripture, by saying, “I hate all your show and pretense—the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies…Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.”

What He is saying is that it will never be enough to simply be religious people, or even claim to be born-again if there is never any heart change toward people and toward God.

To follow God as loyal subjects of His Kingdom is demonstrated by humbling ourselves not only before God, but before all men as well. If we continue to see ourselves as more important of more valuable than even one person, then we are still merely building kingdoms of our own, even though they have a very spiritual appearance to them.

The challenge comes to us in Amos 5:14-15 in which He says, “Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the Lord God Almighty will truly be your helper, just as you have claimed He is. Hate evil and love what is good; remodel your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the people who remain.”

This calling on our lives is recurrent on almost every page of scripture. Perhaps we all have some self-examination to do, and then some kingdoms to start deconstructing so that His can be built.

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Posted in Christian Living, Idolatry