Originally written on October 3, 2013
Idolatry: commonly thought of as applying only to the direct, obvious worship of an object or person. The crazy thing about idolatry, is that it's perhaps one of the easiest sins to commit, regardless of whether or not we have been blessed with many things in life. The poor man will idolize the little that he has, the rich man will idolize the abundance that he has. It's our sinful nature - we're born with that desire and curse to sin, and because of that, and because of Satan, we tend to put what we have before God, effectively making our blessings our idols.
To use a parable of sorts that Ray Comfort used, our blessings are like a new, expensive TV (or similar object). The father in the family gifted his children this TV so they could enjoy and have some fun. Every day, the father would come home from work and say hello to the kids, and they'd respond. However, over time, the TV became more important to the children: their father came in and said hello, but they would instead brush off the "hi's", if they'd say anything at all. The father lets the problem go for a while, hoping his children would come to see this error on their own. Yet even after a warning, they didn't stop their actions. So the father sold the TV. When the children asked where it was, the father said, "I bought that TV for you to enjoy, but you're putting the TV first, as if you were entitled to it, and you stopped showing love for me; I sold the TV."
The same goes for things in our lives. If God can't get through to us by warning us to stop idolising our blessings He has given us, He may opt to remove those blessings, perhaps temporarily, to bring us back to Him, the one who blessed us in the first place.
An idol can be physical (such as objects or people), and that is definitely easy to see. However, relationships, mindsets, or even dreams and goals can easily become idols without us realising it. That's the dangerous type of idolatry, because it's so easy to fall into, without us even knowing it. If we don't acknowledge God's warnings about our idolatry in this form, and He decides to remove or pull away these things, even if temporarily, it can cause us grief: grief brought on ourselves because we ignored His word.
But as with all sin, Jesus brings forth good from it. He can use it to strengthen us, encourage us (because through our sin, His righteousness and power is further highlighted), and even bless us. That's not to say we should sin, or commit idolatry, but because of what Jesus did for all of us, we don't have to fear condemnation or failure. We can confess our sins, and because He's faithful and just, He will forgive us of our sins forever. We can do this, and move on forward into His plan. When we are weak, then we are strong, through Jesus who dwells within us.
What an interesting thought: the King of Kings is not only our Father (making us Christ's Royal Family; heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ to the inheritance of the universe), but He is also our Counselor, who dwells within us via the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit not only guides us in our lives, and convicts us of our sins, but He also intercedes to the Father in our stead: when we feel like our prayers admitting our sins aren't "good enough", we can take comfort knowing the Holy Spirit is talking to the Father right then, with, as Paul explained it, "groans that words cannot express".
Jesus makes a warning in Revelation 3:11, "I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.". If we don't pay attention to the Holy Spirit's guiding, but instead care less and go about our ways, we risk forfeiting some of that which should have been ours in the inheritance of the Kingdom. No, we cannot lose salvation because of our sins or because of going against God's will; however, the Bible says that we CAN lose some of our inheritance, "If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames." - 1 Cor. 3:14-15
So what should we do? Take the idols in our lives, and give them to Jesus. Take the reigns in our lives, and give them to Jesus. If we let Him do what He wants to do in our lives, we will grow more and more to His likeness, which is His ultimate mission for our lives. He won't force Himself on us - we have to LET Him do what He wants to do with our lives.
We don't have the power to truly change others' lives. Neither do we have the power to truly change our own. We're merely the canvas that the Comforter uses to change others' lives. He may scrape some of the paint off of some of that canvas, which may not seem right, but like Bob Ross (one of my favorite impressionist artists), Jesus always takes the 'happy (or not-so-happy) accidents' in our lives, and turns them into a strong tree, or a beautiful sky, or a majestic mountain, or serene sky. We may not see what He is doing at first, but the Master Artist knows what He has in mind for the canvas of your life. We must trust that He is going to create an incredible work of art out of our messed-up lives. If we don't trust Him and let Him do what He has in mind, our canvas will remain a jumbled mess of ugliness.
To use a parable of sorts that Ray Comfort used, our blessings are like a new, expensive TV (or similar object). The father in the family gifted his children this TV so they could enjoy and have some fun. Every day, the father would come home from work and say hello to the kids, and they'd respond. However, over time, the TV became more important to the children: their father came in and said hello, but they would instead brush off the "hi's", if they'd say anything at all. The father lets the problem go for a while, hoping his children would come to see this error on their own. Yet even after a warning, they didn't stop their actions. So the father sold the TV. When the children asked where it was, the father said, "I bought that TV for you to enjoy, but you're putting the TV first, as if you were entitled to it, and you stopped showing love for me; I sold the TV."
The same goes for things in our lives. If God can't get through to us by warning us to stop idolising our blessings He has given us, He may opt to remove those blessings, perhaps temporarily, to bring us back to Him, the one who blessed us in the first place.
An idol can be physical (such as objects or people), and that is definitely easy to see. However, relationships, mindsets, or even dreams and goals can easily become idols without us realising it. That's the dangerous type of idolatry, because it's so easy to fall into, without us even knowing it. If we don't acknowledge God's warnings about our idolatry in this form, and He decides to remove or pull away these things, even if temporarily, it can cause us grief: grief brought on ourselves because we ignored His word.
But as with all sin, Jesus brings forth good from it. He can use it to strengthen us, encourage us (because through our sin, His righteousness and power is further highlighted), and even bless us. That's not to say we should sin, or commit idolatry, but because of what Jesus did for all of us, we don't have to fear condemnation or failure. We can confess our sins, and because He's faithful and just, He will forgive us of our sins forever. We can do this, and move on forward into His plan. When we are weak, then we are strong, through Jesus who dwells within us.
What an interesting thought: the King of Kings is not only our Father (making us Christ's Royal Family; heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ to the inheritance of the universe), but He is also our Counselor, who dwells within us via the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit not only guides us in our lives, and convicts us of our sins, but He also intercedes to the Father in our stead: when we feel like our prayers admitting our sins aren't "good enough", we can take comfort knowing the Holy Spirit is talking to the Father right then, with, as Paul explained it, "groans that words cannot express".
Jesus makes a warning in Revelation 3:11, "I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.". If we don't pay attention to the Holy Spirit's guiding, but instead care less and go about our ways, we risk forfeiting some of that which should have been ours in the inheritance of the Kingdom. No, we cannot lose salvation because of our sins or because of going against God's will; however, the Bible says that we CAN lose some of our inheritance, "If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames." - 1 Cor. 3:14-15
So what should we do? Take the idols in our lives, and give them to Jesus. Take the reigns in our lives, and give them to Jesus. If we let Him do what He wants to do in our lives, we will grow more and more to His likeness, which is His ultimate mission for our lives. He won't force Himself on us - we have to LET Him do what He wants to do with our lives.
We don't have the power to truly change others' lives. Neither do we have the power to truly change our own. We're merely the canvas that the Comforter uses to change others' lives. He may scrape some of the paint off of some of that canvas, which may not seem right, but like Bob Ross (one of my favorite impressionist artists), Jesus always takes the 'happy (or not-so-happy) accidents' in our lives, and turns them into a strong tree, or a beautiful sky, or a majestic mountain, or serene sky. We may not see what He is doing at first, but the Master Artist knows what He has in mind for the canvas of your life. We must trust that He is going to create an incredible work of art out of our messed-up lives. If we don't trust Him and let Him do what He has in mind, our canvas will remain a jumbled mess of ugliness.
