"Prone
to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone
to leave the God I love."
From
the Hymn: Come, Thou Fount of Every
Blessing
We
must stay vigilant to the reappearance of idols in our lives. I find myself
clearing them out only to find them coming back in different forms. John Calvin
once said, "Man's nature is a perpetual factory of idols." Without
even knowing it or realizing it, I flirt with new ones. I am freed only to
forget quickly the pain I left behind and I find myself trying on new chains
and shackles that appear prettier and shinier than my old ones until the Holy Spirit
gently opens my eyes and tugs at my heart and wakes me up to my mindless
cravings and I realize how empty and ugly the fake promise is that I am being
offered. It is that same old trick from that same old garden and I keep falling
for it over and over again. The same trick with a newer, more modern facade-
yet still deadly. How ugly is the reality of deception. How broken is the human
heart. Mine is no exception.
Very cool post. I am in Exodus right now and am learning some similar stufff (or relearning...I feel like God has shown me this multiple times in multiple ways!!). But what I was reminded of is that we are not just freed FROM something as much as we are freed TO something. You see, in Hollywood's version, Moses always says "LET MY PEOPLE GO!" to Pharaoh, but they leave off the also important second half to his repeated request on behalf of God..."so that we may go into the wilderness to worship". Our lives are not so much about rejecting idols, but always running to that strong tower, Jesus Christ, to worship him instead. Replacing our idols with Him.
ReplyDeleteHave I shared with you my duct tape story?
If not, I'd like to do so! Got this last year after Christmas sometime...but I had to get duct tape and it HAD to be pretty. My reasoning was this. When I see duct tape, it reminds me of bondage. (okay, yes...morbid...but I think of being gagged, etc). And I had to get PRETTY duct tape because it reminds me that I can be in bondage by GOOD and pleasing and pretty things. So, the duct tape pretty much camped out by our computer after I got it to remind myself to stay away from online shoppig for a bit. It has made an appearance by our cookie jar or in my purse when I go shopping and want to worship the god of consumerism/materialism. People can think I am crazy, but it reminds me of this truth, the same truth you shared in your blog post. Anything and everything can enslave us and we can set up things as idols in a heartbeat! For now, the roll of tape is tucked away...but always at the ready to be a visual reminder for me!!
Love the duct tape idea! Great visual to have around and yes I have noticed that there are so many kinds now and they are pretty! Love the reminder that anything can become an idol and that we have to replace them not just have nothing. We are worship machines and will worship something all the time. We have no choice.
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