Tag: Christianity

Empty Things

On By BrianIn Heart, Idolatry1 Comment

God provides us with many good things.  He showers blessings upon us daily.  Our problem is that we twist his blessings into idols.  We try to make these good things into gods – something God never intended for us to do.  We treasure the gifts before the Giver.  We live for things rather than God.  Yet the gifts God gives us to enjoy make pitiful gods. They are empty.

Samuel warns the people of Israel of this in I Samuel 12:21 – “And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty.”

What are some of these empty things that we serve as gods.  Consider just some of the pantheon.  Which ones call your name?

  • Relationships/Family/Friends
  • Wisdom/Knowledge
  • Food
  • Entertainment/Media
  • Control/Power
  • Reputation/Popularity
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Work
  • Material Things
  • Retirement Fund
  • Government
  • Technology/Gadgets
  • Beauty/Fashion
  • Sex
  • Tradition
  • Change
  • Convenience
  • Comfort
  • Shopping
  • Independence

Good things, but empty gods.

In the movie Cool Runnings, the coach of the Jamaican bobsled team tells the captain of the team that gold medals are wonderful things.  But if you aren’t enough without one, you won’t be enough with one.

Wise words.  Gold medals are good, but they can’t satisfy the soul.  The list above are all good things, but they can’t satisfy your soul.  They are empty.

The Scriptures point again and again to the emptiness of other gods.  In Isaiah 44, we find a man who cuts down a tree.  He cuts most of it up for firewood to keep him warm, but some of it he carves into an idol which he bows down to worship. What a fool, we may think.

But then we go to work to make money which we use to buy fuel to keep us warm, and then we add to our retirement fund or savings account which we are trusting in as gods.  Or we use some money for fuel and another part for material things or entertainment or food which we chase after, live for, bow down to as a god.  We too can be fools.

Psalm 135:15-17 tells about other gods – they have mouths but can’t speak, eyes but can’t see, ears that can’t hear.  Why would we trust in these things, live for these things, treat them as gods?

In I Kings 18, Elijah calls the prophets of Baal to a contest.  Each will build an altar to his god, which ever god answers by fire – he is the true God.  The prophets of Baal dance around all morning calling upon Baal to answer with fire.  Nothing happens.  They trust in a god that can’t answer.  They worship a god that can’t satisfy, provide, or help.  Yet there we go again dancing around our own Baals that cannot answer, satisfy, provide, or help.

That afternoon, Elijah prays a simple prayer to his God, and fire falls from heaven engulfing the entire altar.  The people bow down and worship the true God.  Isn’t it time we left behind our empty things and did the same?

What’s in your Wagon?

On By BrianIn Heart, Idolatry1 Comment

In an old Little House on the Prairie episode, Laura and her friend are fishing in a creek when they see something shiny on the bottom of the creek.  They stop fishing to investigate – and it is gold dust!  They secretively begin to collect the gold dust after school and on the weekends.  They begin to dream of what they might do with their new found riches.

After a few weeks, they have so many bags of gold, that they decide to take it to the bank.  So they fill a small wagon with their treasure and pull the wagon to town.  With excitement they show the banker what they have.  But their smiles soon fade, as the banker shakes his head and tells them it’s not gold.  It is fool’s gold.  It looks like gold, but it is not.  Their treasure isn’t worth anything.  They have wasted hours, days, and weeks collecting something without any value.

What is in your wagon?  What are you spending hours, days, weeks, months, and years of your life on?  What treasure have you given your life too?  When you bring your wagon before God, will he shake his head and tell you your wagon is filled with worthless dust?  Will he tell you that you wasted your life?  Or will he see that your treasure was God, that you gave your life to him?  Will he tell you well done good and faithful servant?

What is in your wagon?

Life is a treasure hunt.  Choose your treasure carefully.

Treasure Hunt

On By BrianIn Heart, Idolatry

Life is like a treasure hunt.  The big difference is that while a typical treasure hunt has clues that lead to a single treasure, life has many clues that lead to numerous treasures.  We have to decide which clues to follow, which treasures to seek.

Jesus used the picture of a treasure in Matthew 6.  He reminds us not to lay up treasure on earth, but rather to lay up treasure in heaven.  Verse 21 reads: “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

So what is your treasure?  There are lots of clues leading to lots of treasures.  What is your treasure?

The Psalms give us clues to what our treasure should be.  Psalm 63 tells us that God’s love is better than life; that God satisfies.  Psalm 27 tells us to seek God’s face.  In Psalm 73, the writer tells us that he desires nothing in heaven or earth but God.  In Psalm 16, David says that God is his chosen portion.  Out of all the possible treasures life offers, David has chosen God.  These psalms and many more are clues that point to God as the true treasure we should seek.

Is God our treasure?  The quick “Christian” answer of course is God, but is he really?  Do our lives prove that God is our treasure?  Or do our lives point to other competing treasures, other gods that we bow down to and serve?  Is God our treasure, or is it God and ________ (you fill in the blank)?

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  So where is your heart?  Whatever your heart is set on is your treasure.  So consider your heart:

What do you love more than anything else?

What to seek, desire, long for more than anything else?

What to you praise and talk about all of the time?

What do you trust in for security and satisfaction and meaning?

What do you serve no matter the cost?

What determines your words and actions and relationships with people?

Are the answers to these questions – God, or some other things, or maybe God and other things?  Where is your heart?  That is your treasure.

Life is a treasure hunt.  What is your treasure?

Heart of Trust

On By BrianIn Heart, Idolatry2 Comments

Proverb 3:5 is a well known verse – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”  A well known verse, but not so well applied.  Trust God with my family?  Trust God with my job and my finances?  Trust God with my relationships?  Trust God with my health?  Trust God with my country, the economy, the two wars?  Trust God with my trials, sorrows, and struggles?  Trust God with all my life?

Sometimes this is less than easy (an understatement!).  When I don’t understand, it can be hard to trust.  When life doesn’t make sense to me, it can be hard to trust.  In the midst of the struggle, it can be hard to trust.  I cry out, “Why, Lord?”  He answers, “Trust me.”

And God calls me to trust him with all my heart.  My heart is to be completely bent towards trusting him.  Having a heart for God means I will trust him with my life.

Yet other gods call us to trust in them.  I might trust in my job to get me through a bad economy.  I might trust in my savings to make me financially secure.  I might trust in my spouse or a friend to make me happy.  I might trust in the government to solve my problems.  I might trust in the church to save me or help me.  All of these things are good things – unless I turn them into gods, unless I place my trust in them instead of God.

How do I show my trust in God?  We show our trust as we bring our problems to God in prayer (Psalm 62:8).  Prayer is an act of trust.  We trust him as we wait on him to act, even when we want immediate answers (Psalm 27:13-14).

And as we trust in him, he offers us peace (Isaiah 26:3-4).  Peace in the midst of the storm as we keep our gaze on him.

And this trust leads to praise (Psalm 28:7).  As we trust him and he helps us, we have reason to offer up praises to him.

God, pour out your grace upon us today that we might trust you with all our hearts.

Serving Other Gods

On By BrianIn Idolatry, PASSION Quotes1 Comment

John Frame in his forward for the new book, You Are The Treasure That I Seek: *But there’s a lot of cool stuff out there, Lord by Greg Dutcher writes these words:

“So when we find ourselves going against God’s Word, it is helpful to ask the question: “What idol am I worshipping?”  That is a powerful question, because it exposes the heart.  It asks us to inspect our motives.  When I am unkind to my wife, for example, it’s not a mere slip.  It shows that my heart is not right with God, that I love myself more than my wife….  My own convenience, my own preferences, my own comfort have become my idol.”

Behind every sin is an idol.  Too often behind every good act there is an idol too.  I might serve in ministry for my reputation or another’s praise rather than for Christ.  I might work hard at my job longing for a raise or promotion rather than in service to Christ.  Again and again the Scriptures call us to serve God with all of our hearts (I Samuel 12:24, etc.) , but our hearts are too often divided.  Our hearts are bent on serving other things – other gods.  Here are a few thoughts to begin fighting idols.

1. Prayerfully examine your heart. Ask God to search your heart (Psalm 139:23-24).  Evaluate why you do what you do.  Is it for Christ or is there an idol in your life?  Begin to identify your gods.

2. Confess your sin of idolatry to God.  As you identify your gods, confess these idols to God.  The first commandment tells us to not have any gods before the one true God.  We are all guilty of breaking this command – confess your sins.

3. Celebrate the gospel.  John Frame again writes: “Thinking about idolatry helps us measure ourselves accurately, to see how far we fall below God’s standards.”  We could easily get depressed by how sinful we are.  But we come to cross.  We claim his forgiveness.  We celebrate the glorious truth that Jesus died FOR EVERY TIME we sin.  In Christ, we are clean and pure in God’s sight.

4. Seek to serve God with all your heart.  The truth of the gospel – what Christ did for us, should motivate us to press forward to serve God alone.  Turn away from the gods you identified.  Ask God for help to serve him alone.

May God help us overcome our idols and serve him alone!

More thoughts on idols and fighting them in future posts….

Build up the Church

On By BrianIn Uncategorized

David desired to build a temple for the Lord, and God was pleased (2 Chronicles 6:7-8).  Today the the temple of the Lord is his church (the people, not the buildings).  Do we desire to build up his church?  Not just attend services.  Not just come to be fed.  But do we desire to build up Christ’s church?

Jesus loved the church so much he gave his life for her (Ephesians 5:25).  He clearly cares about the church.  Do we?  Enough to do our part to build it up?  The Old Testament temple was built of stone and mortar.  How do we build up the church today?  We find the answer in Ephesians 4.

First, we strive for unity.  That is the first six verses.  Nothing can tear a church down faster than division and strife.  And nothing builds it up like peace, unity, oneness.  Indeed in Christ we are one – so we must strive to live out this oneness.  Humility (v2) is key.  We need humility to agree to disagree on minor doctrinal or interpretation issues.  We need humility to agree to disagree on matters of opinion and preference.  No, not everything will happen in our churches like we think it should.  And we will never find a church that will do things exactly like we want.  So we stay.  We practice some humility, and support our churches anyway.  We need humility and patience to bear with one another in love (also v2).  Put any two people together for a length of time and they will offend one another.  Can we bear with each other’s offenses, forgiving when needed.  Being offended is not a reason to leave; it is an opportunity to practice humility, forgiveness, and reconciliation.  God calls us to peace.  Strive for unity to build up the church.

Second, serve in ministry.  The pastor’s job is to equip the people to do ministry so that together the body might build itself up (v11-16).  God has given each person gifts of ministry (see Romans 12:6-8) to use to build up the church.  I once heard Warren Wiersbe say there are two types of Christians – the caterpillars who walk in before the service and out after the service, and the pillars who serve in the church.  Don’t be a caterpillar – be a pillar.  Serve in ministry to build up the church.

Jesus cares about his church.  Do we?  If so let us strive for unity and serve in ministry that his church might be built up.

Desire for the Temple

On By BrianIn Heart

Psalm 84 records the Psalmist’s desire to be at the temple.  He wants to be where God dwells.  He wants to sing for joy and praise the Lord.  He gets excited at the thought of traveling there.  He would rather be there than anywhere else.  Do we share this desire?

The church is God’s temple today.  Do we desire to be where God dwells – among his people?  Do we desire to gather together to sing for joy and praise our Lord?  Do we get excited at the thought of going to meet with God?  Is there nowhere we would rather be?  Does this desire show on Sunday morning?  During the rest of the week?

Heart for the Church

On By BrianIn Heart1 Comment

After Jesus’ trial, he was scourged with a many-lashed whip containing imbedded pieces of bone and metal.  He was mocked, spit, and struck.  He has a crown of thorns placed on his head.  And then he had spikes driven into his hands and feet, and he hung on a cross.  Why?  Why did he endure all of that?  For me.  For you.  To save people from their sins.  But there is more:

“…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her….” – Ephesians 5:25

He endured the cross because he loved the church.  If he loved the church like that, shouldn’t his followers love his church too?

Some people claim they want to follow Christ but want nothing to do with his church.  How can you follow Christ while rejecting that which he loves?  Some have been hurt by the church; the church isn’t perfect.  Sadly true.  But Jesus loved it anyway and gave his life for it.  If we follow him, we must love the church too and give of ourselves for his church.

Some people are part of a local church, but just go through the motions.  They attend services, but do they ever show love for the church?  Do they love the people – building relationships with them and ministering to them? Do they support the ministries of the church with their time and money and spiritual gifts?  Do they give of themselves for Christ’s church as Jesus did?

Jesus loved his church.  Shouldn’t we?

Human Heart Helpers

On By BrianIn Heart1 Comment

Guard your life lest you fall away from the living God!  That is how I ended my last post.  But Hebrews 3:12-13 makes clear we ought not try to do this alone:

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.  But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

How can we guard our lives and keep from falling away?  It comes in Christian community.  We need to encourage and be encouraged in the faith daily.  Sunday services are important as we go to be encouraged in our faith by the preaching and teaching and singing and praying.  But we need DAILY encouragement from God’s people.

Iron sharpens iron.  Could it be that we are too often dull because of a lack of sharpening during the week?  Too often we are like lukewarm coals that come together on Sunday, grow warmer together, and then lose whatever heat we may have gained as we scatter for the week.

Alone there is the danger of developing hard unbelieving hearts that fall astray.  We need each other humans to help our hearts.  How can we make this happen?

In part this daily encouragement can happen in our families (if you have a Christian family) by daily studying the Word together, praying together, and exhorting one another.  Is this characteristic of your family?

In part this daily encouragement can happen through media – Christian music, books, magazines, preaching on the radio, internet, blogs like this one, etc.  What media are you daily ingesting to encourage you in your faith?

But the ultimate answer is that God created the local church for this purpose.  We are to encourage and be encouraged by others in our churches on a daily basis.  Many of us are too busy for this (maybe this is why we are weak?).  We need to visit one another, call, and send notes.  New technology like  e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter give us new opportunities to encourage others in our local church and be encouraged by them during the week.

So what steps can you take this week to encourage others in their faith?  What steps can you take to be encouraged in your faith?  Think family, media, and local church.  Don’t ignore this.  Don’t pass over it.  God may use our encouragement to keep someone from drifting away.  And we need daily encouragement for ourselves to keep from drifting away.

And as we encourage one another, perhaps instead of drifting away, we might have hearts that beat stronger every day for God.  May it be so!

Hard Hearts

On By BrianIn Heart

Hebrews 3:7-14 warn us about hard hearts.  Israel hardened their hearts against God and were not able to enter the Promised Land.  Their hearts went astray.  And we are warned to take care lest we follow in their steps – lest we have evil, unbelieving hearts that lead us to fall away from God, lest our hearts be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.  For we share in Christ (that is, we are saved) IF we hold our original confidence (faith) firm to the end.  That is, true saving faith endures.

How badly the church today needs the exhortation found in these verses.  Too many (and too often myself included) are too careless in their Christian walk.  Many think they said a prayer, and so they are in no matter what.  But no, we share in Christ only if we continue in the faith.  There is disagreement about those who don’t continue in the faith – did they lose their salvation or were they never truly saved (I favor the latter – see for instance I John 2:19).  Either way, this passage calls us to a vigilance, a seriousness, a careful regard for our hearts that is all too uncommon in the church today.

Beware lest you have an evil unbelieving heart, lest your heart is hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.  I doubt many people claiming to be Christians wake up one morning and say they are going to harden their heart and reject Christ.  A few perhaps, but for most I suspect this hardening is a gradual process often unknown to the person.  A slow drift away from God, his Word, and his people.  A slow movement into sin, toward the idols of this world.  A slow turning of the heart from seeking God to seeking other things.   Over a long time of gradual drift, they walk away from the living God.

And so we must take care.  Beware.  Be on our guard.  As Peter tells us: we must “be sober-minded; be watchful.  Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  Resist him, firm in your faith….” (I Peter 5:8-9).

Are you drifting away from God and into sin?  Take care!  Wake up!  Seek God’s mercy and grace!  Look to him!  Return!  And guard your life lest you fall away from the living God!