August 24, 2014

Idols. Fake gods we set up for our own pleasure, and to avoid total surrender to Jesus.

God made us in HIS image. We have His capability to love (though not to His extent), we have His feelings of grief and joy, ecstasy and depression. We know what is right and what is wrong. We, in many ways, are similar to God, but a MUCH watered down version in that we don't feel as strongly, have much power, and we aren't omniscient. We are made in HIS image!!

So, by creating idols, we make gods in OUR image; an image of perfection already flawed. Its almost like the flaws multiply when we set up idols. The gods of the Bible (lowercase g = pagan gods) are prone to sleeping, bitter disputes, and silly rivalries that you wouldn't want your gods having... They sound more flawed and more imperfect than many humans. Its the same today. The idols we set up in our lives - anything that steals us from Jesus - are more flawed because WE made them. They are in OUR image, yet they are worse than us because they were made faulty. Now, when God created us, we were perfect and corrupted ourselves. But when we make our own gods we are already faulty, so our idols are even MORE faulty.

Question: why is it so easy to serve something that is more faulty then us? Why do we think that serving something we made is easier than serving a PERFECT, LOVING God? Answer: it doesn't require total surrender. Humans DESPISE the idea of being out of control. Christianity requires a potential believer to sacrifice everything they own, their desires, dreams, homes, entire LIVES to a God that they do not know yet. Its once we have faith that we can build a relationship, so we have no knowledge of God's true character until we surrender all. Thats scary stuff. Like jumping off a cliff after being told you can fly... but you have no wings. You just gotta have faith.

Idols don't require surrender. We can be who WE want to be and do what WE want to do. They are made on our terms, follow our rules, and only have as much power as we give them. Sounds good, right? NOPE. Because thats not how it works... we give them their initial power, but they grow and fester and take over our lives. They FORCEFULLY steal our lives, they RIP away everything we hold close. On the other hand, God lets us CHOOSE to give Him our lives, and all that we care about and have God lets us keep! (For the most part... He has an ultimate, perfect plan, and since we sacrificed all to Him He gives and takes as He sees fit... don't worry, He's perfect and LOVES YOU. Its for your best interests, it just may take time to come to fruition.)

You see, idols are a dumb, stupid, watered down version of US. The flawed creatures making even more flawed THINGS to worship, that have no real power anyways. Its GOD that we should serve!! Its HIM we should love!! He is PERFECT, and we aren't... I'd like Him to guide my life:)