Tag Archive | idolatry

The Problem with Comfort Objects

May8

God wants more for us than we want for ourselves.

Which is awesome and terrifying all at the same time.

Our hearts are so broken and bent toward sin that if someone were to ask us what we want in life, our list would be pretty self-centered. My list contains things like happiness, fulfillment, healthy family and friends. I want to grow old with my first husband, and I want my kids to thrive.

These things might seem benign on the surface, but I know the real motives underneath - I want to avoid pain and maximize pleasure.

And so do you.

But God wants more for us than a good time. He wants us to live lives that matter. Comfy, cozy lives don’t accomplish much. Self-preservation seems right, and it is natural, but it misses the heart of God (Proverbs 16:25).

We’re all here for 2 reasons: to know God and to make Him known (Exodus 9:15-16). But our pursuit of pain-free living often prevents us from knowing God (and, thus, making Him known).

How?

Because we find things that feel good and provide comfort, and we latch on to them for dear life, refusing to let them go.

(Note: this is called idolatry. I know, I know, too harsh. But true.)

We are born doing this. As newborns, we literally latch on to our mother’s, for nourishment, yes, but any mother can tell you, her baby hangs around well past meal time, suckling solely for the comfort. As we grow, this pattern of behavior continues, it just manifests differently.

When all our energy is focused on our comfort objects, we don’t have much time (or room in our hearts) to draw nearer to God. Problem.

But draw nearer we must. It’s the only way we can be fulfilled for any length of time, and it’s the only way we can fulfill our life purposes – to know Him and make Him known.

So God, lovingly, gently, and Fatherly-y (like a Father?), beckons us to find our comfort in Him.

Naturally, that doesn’t typically go over well with us. Our entire lives have been spent seeking and holding on to comfort objects that weren’t Him. To put them into their proper places - lower places than the Lord – is foreign and scary and hard and scary.

But He wants better for us than we want for ourselves. So He continues to encourage the process of loosening our grips on our chosen comforts that we might find our hands free to grab onto Him, the Ultimate Comfort.

I have a feeling the sooner we I cooperate, the better it will be for all involved.

How about you?

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How to Commit Idolatry

Aug31

One thing I love about the Bible is that it’s about me.

And we all know how much I love me.

I’m my favorite subject.

I was reading Jeremiah 2 and 3 yesterday and saw myself in nearly every verse. That’s really bad news if you know anything about Jeremiah 2. But it’s really good news if you know anything about Jeremiah 3.

I’m coming out of a season of pure rebellion against the Lord. No, I didn’t shave my head, renounce Jesus, and join a hippie commune. But, in my heart, I told the Lord He could keep His way of doing things to Himself; I wanted to do things my way.

That’s basically what God is accusing Israel of in Jeremiah 2. Their rebellion might look worse than mine because they were outwardly worshiping idols. But, don’t be fooled. I was inwardly worshiping myself by continually choosing my way over God’s way.

The Lord says to Israel, “What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves,” (Jeremiah 2:5).

Do you hear the sadness in the Father’s voice? The disappointment. The hurt. My soul stung as I read this verse, confirming the truth of the statement that following worthless idols makes us worthless. I’ve experienced that in my rebellion. God didn’t love me any less or value me any less, but I was of no value to the Kingdom, unable to do my part in furthering the Kingdom while my heart was turned away from the Lord.

God goes on to charge Israel: ”My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water,” (Jeremiah 2:13).

The first sin is forsaking God, abandoning Him. We, too, put God on the shelf when circumstances don’t seem favorable. When obeying God – submitting to what He asks us to do – doesn’t feel like it’s in our best interest, we tell Him, “No,” forsaking Him.

That’s bad enough.

But that’s not all.

We are made to worship, and if we refuse to worship God, we instinctively search out something or someone else to worship. We dig our own cisterns, looking for alternate water. In other words, we go find idols who suit our fancies, the second sin.

  1. Abandon God
  2. Find God Substitute

Yes, I have done this. Recently. The Bible is about me.

God appeals to Israel – to all of us. “Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me,” (Jeremiah 2:19).

There comes a point when the rebellious realize their cisterns are broken, their idols don’t satisfy. Indeed, they can’t satisfy. Not fully. Reprecussions from our idolatrous choices begin to show themselves. Our relationship with God is strained. Our relationships with others are breaking. Our days become dark, joyless, evil, and bitter.  And, slowly, we begin to understand it’s because we have no awe of the Lord anymore. We haven’t respected Him or trusted Him. We’ve lost our healthy fear of Him and are no longer motivated by love for Him. We’ve done this.

I’ve done this.

As I read the words, “…you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me,” my soul cried out, “Lord! May it never be!” And He whispered, “Kelly… it already was.”

My soul ached. He was right. Just a couple months ago. It already was. I had no awe of the Lord.

Even in the midst of the rebellion, God had tried to warn me of the path I was on. But, like the Israelites, I said, “‘I am not defiled; I have not run after [idols],” even though I knew I had (Jeremiah 2:23). I thought if I didn’t admit my sin was sin, it wouldn’t actually be sin. I could still pretend it was acceptable.

But, finally, Israel and I could no longer deny our sin.  We both exclaimed, “It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them,” (Jeremiah 2:25). We made excuses. True, the pull of sin can be strong. We can feel unable to resist temptations.

But we are not powerless! We have the very power that raised Christ from the dead IN US (Romans 8:11). The power of God can help us resist the “foreign gods” we love, but we have to want to resist.

The Bible is about me. And it’s about you, too. Where are you in this story? Are you acting like Israel right now? Stop and feel the weight of your rebellion. Be broken by it.

And then take heart, Jeremiah 3 is coming.

 

 

Should We Love with All Our Hearts?

Jun23

Don’t worry, I’m not gonna gush about Mumford and Sons in this post.  Because I did that last month, and you people will only put up with so much of that nonsense.

But.

I am gonna share some thoughts their lyrics are responsible for causing me to think.

The song is called White Blank Page, and, as near as I can tell, it’s a song about love gone awry.  And part of the chorus says, “Tell me now, where was my fault in loving you with my whole heart?”

Interesting question.

Upon first hearing, my heart identified, saying, “Yeah!  Loving someone wholeheartedly is NEVER wrong!  And anyone who thinks so is stupid!”  I’m pretty mature that way.

But upon further ruminating, that line of thinking sank like a rock in Lake Bitter.  Because there are all kinds of “bad” love.

Some examples:

  • if you are married and you develop romantic love for someone besides your spouse (Adultery)
  • if you love something or someone more than you love God (Idolatry)
  • if you love something too much (Addiction)
  • if you love something inherently bad or evil (Psychosis)
  • if you love yourself more than others (Narcissism)

Maybe I’m over-analyzing here.  If the song is written to a spouse, the singer ought to love his wife with his whole heart, right?

The beginning of an oft quoted Bible verse says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart…” (Deuteronomy 6:5; Luke 10:27).

It’s telling that nowhere in the Bible are we commanded to love anything else wholeheartedly.  Not our spouses, our kids, ourselves, our hobbies, our jobs, nor our passions.  Just God.

Jesus does speak to loving others quite a bit, but never with all our heart.  In fact, in the second portion of Luke 10:27, Jesus tells us to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

This may just be my low self-esteem talking, but who in the world loves himself with his whole heart?  Not me!  There is plenty about me that I dislike.  And, by interacting with a lot of different women each week, I know I am not alone.  I can’t speak for you men, but I am willing to bet there are very, very few people in the world who love themselves wholeheartedly, and rightfully so.  We broken, sinful humans are full of way too much crap to love ourselves wholeheartedly, and the ones who do probably need their heads examined.

(Note: loving well/unconditionally is not the same as loving wholeheartedly.  We should love ourselves and others well/unconditionally.)

All that to say, apparently, Marcus Mumford was in the wrong to love a woman with his whole heart.  According to the Bible, that depth of love should be reserved for the Lord.  When we find ourselves feeling that we love something with our whole hearts, we are teetering on the edge of idolatry, if we haven’t already jumped in with both feet.

But because I love Marcus Mumford (not wholeheartedly, of course), I’ll go ahead and defend his use of the phrase “whole heart” with the following interpretation: “Tell me now, where was my fault in loving you as I love myself?”

It doesn’t rhyme, but its biblical.  So.  Win.