Devotionals
Idolatry is the problem.
Beliefs are the basic building blocks to what we value or where we focus our attention. In other words, from our beliefs comes how we live our lives. For example, if I believe having money is important to my chosen lifestyle, then I will focus attention on obtaining the necessary funds needed to maintain that lifestyle. Another example might be, if I believe that having a certain relationship with someone will make me feel more alive, I will focus my attention on winning that someone’s heart. This principle can apply to anything we find ourselves focused on, whether it is looking good, having the latest tech gadget, or anything else under the Sun. If we analyze what we are focused on, we will find belief the motivator.
None of the things we could focus on are necessarily bad, nor are the beliefs that motivate the focus. God specifically made us with the capacity to believe and focus attention. This comes from being made in the image of God. However, when belief and focus become obsessions we have moved beyond God’s design and began to idolize. For example, if a focus on money becomes an obsession and we feel as though our life is incomplete without it, we are idolizing. If we become so enamored with wanting to have a person love us, then we are practicing idolatry.
When idolatry infects our beliefs and focus, we have a serious problem, one that permeates into other aspects of our life. In reality, idols are often demanding and take to ordering us around like a dictator with so much compelling force that it is nearly impossible to say “no” without fear of severe consequences. Typically, the consequences we fear come from the lie that we must have it in order to survive or that our life is incomplete without it. In his excellent book The Peacemaker, Ken Sande says that, “if we are not fulfilled and secure in God, we will inevitably seek other resources of happiness and security.” (Sande, 112). However, these other resources of happiness and security are mythological in nature; no one has ever found fulfillment and completeness in other resources. There is only one place to find completeness and fulfillment; by being in Christ. Colossians 2:10 says, in “Him (Jesus) you have been made complete,” (Italics mine). Also, in Ephesians 3:19, Paul prays that we would “know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”
Idolizing is the real culprit in our life dilemma. We don’t have what we believe we should have or think we need, but we want it, so we try to get it through whatever means possible, including fighting for it, stealing it, and murdering to have it. When we can’t get it, we resort to asking God to give it to us, (usually the last measure). However, we are asking with the wrong motives, that we may use it for our own pleasures. (James 4:2-3). The Scripture passage goes on to reveal that, such a mindset is actually being a friend with the world. And the world is messed up, being controlled by a sinister ruler wielding power over those who are trapped in idolatry, constantly blinding the minds of unbelievers in order to keep them slaves to darkness. The slaves of darkness continuously worship idols of creation rather than the Creator. Nevertheless, Jesus set us free from the darkness and transferred us into His Light. Therefore, we are to lay aside every idol in our life and walk in the newness of life that we have been given. The Bible says to, “Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on the earth. (Col. 3:2).
So then, how do we identify idols in our life? Sande offers a way by suggesting we ask ourselves the following questions:
a. What am I preoccupied with? (What is the first thing on my mind in the morning and/or the last thing at night?)
b. How would I fill in this blank?: “If only ¬__________, then I would be happy, fulfilled, and secure.”
c. What do I want to preserve or avoid at any cost?
d. Where do I put my trust?
e. What do I fear?
f. When a certain desire is not met, do I feel frustration, anxiety, resentment, bitterness, anger, or depression?
g. Is there something I desire so much that I am willing to disappoint or hurt others in order to have it? (Sande, 115).
Once we have identified idols in our life, how do we eliminate them? This is a profound question. We need to go to the word of God for an answer.
The Bible teaches us that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come,” (2 Cor. 5:17). To be in Christ we need to encounter Jesus. Dietrich Bonhoffer said, “It is true that encounter with Jesus meant the reversal of all human values.” (Bonhoeffer, 5) For example, consider the encounter a Samaritan woman had with Jesus when she went to draw water from a well, (Read the story in John Chapter 4). It is obvious the Samaritan woman had a belief system that led her to value destructive activities in life. Consider the fact that she had been married five times and was living with a man to whom she had not married. However, as she interacted with Jesus she experienced an encounter that brought her new beliefs and values in exchange for laying down her idols. The newfound belief system motivated her to go back to the town where she was a social outcast and share her experience. The change in the Samaritan woman’s life was so significant it caused the townspeople to come out and meet the Jesus who changed her. After the townspeople’s encounter with Jesus, “they were saying to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.’" (John 4:42).
From the example of the Samaritan woman, we can see that to be in Christ is to place your trust and faith in him. When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians he spent a great deal explaining what “Every Spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” is that we have received when we put our faith in Christ. (Eph. 1:3). Among the many blessings, like holiness and redemption, we have also been chosen to be “Lights in the Lord,” (Eph. 5:8). Here is how Paul said it, “For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light,” (Eph. 5:5-8).
Paul is saying that the immoral, impure, and covetous (an idolater), has not received an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God and the wrath of God comes upon those who practice these things. However, part of the great spiritual blessings we (who have put faith in Jesus), have received in Christ is being transferred out of the darkness and into being Light in the Lord. In other words, to walk as Light in the Lord is to have given up our idols, (as the Samaritan woman at the well did), and find wisdom in knowing Christ. Proverbs 3:13-15 says, "How blessed is the man who finds wisdom And the man who gains understanding. For her profit is better than the profit of silver And her gain better than fine gold. She is more precious than jewels; And nothing you desire compares with her." The word finds indicates something found by looking for it. If we don’t look for wisdom we will certainly not find it. As well, if we don’t put our faith in Jesus then we will be subject to rogue idols emerging in our life and once the idols have a foot hold, they will infect other areas of our beliefs until we are totally blinded by darkness with our focus or values becoming selfish and destructive in nature.
Questions to ponder:
1. In what ways have my beliefs led to allowing idols a foot hold in my life?
2. What has been some of the consequences of idol worship in my life?
3. What steps am I taking to put away the idols I have?
4. How am I encountering Jesus?
5. What can I do to encounter Jesus better?
6. What ways is my being Light in the Lord demonstrated in my life?
7. How can being Light in the Lord be better demonstrated in the future?
8. How can I help others identify and put away idols in their life?
References:
All Scripture Citations from New American Standard Bible. Anaheim, CA: Foundation Publications, publisher for the Lockman Foundation, ©1997.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Martyred Christian. New York: Macmillan, 1983.
Sande, Ken. The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2004.
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