Tag: idolatry

Posted on

Bad for Business

Daily Reading

Acts 18-20

Daily Thought

In 1904, a revival broke out in Wales, and over one hundred thousand sinners suddenly put their trust in Jesus Christ. It was reported that crime slowed to a standstill. Taverns and brothels were deserted because churches were packed. Sir T. Marchant Williams, a circuit judge, observed that his work was much lighter, especially regarding drunkenness and related offenses. The police force had time to form a choir and sing at revival meetings. Coal miners stopped cursing and their donkeys and mules stopped obeying instructions when they could not understand the gentler words of their masters. 

The revival lasted less than a year.

“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” ~John 3:19

The city of Ephesus is a city of idols and its Temple of Artemis counted as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Paul entered this city proclaiming Jesus as the true Lord and Savior and “gods made with hands are not gods” (Acts 19:26), which is exactly how they made their gods, and more importantly, sold their idols. Idols were bad gods, but good business. “A man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen” (Acts 19:24), but the preaching of Paul was turning many away from idolatry, so he called his fellows together with a warning, “there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing” (Acts 19:27). The former concerned him more than the latter. 

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” ~1John 5:21

That’s the thing about Jesus, he changes everything. The collateral “damage” of Christianity is it may be bad for business if your business depends on the bad.

Daily Prayer

Lord God, you are the King of kings. May Your Kingdom be established on earth. Your grace has changed my heart. May it change my community. May “In God We Trust” become a reality in this country. But first, may it be a reality in Your church. Purify Your people God, so that we might be a light and a blessing to the world.

Start with my heart, God. I cannot show You to the world unless the world can see You in me. Create in me a clean heart, fully devoted to You.

Amen

Daily Question

What have you stopped doing once you put Jesus in charge of your life?

Posted on

Stand Out

Daily Reading

Ezekiel 43-45

Daily Thought

As God works restoration into the heart of his people, a burden of judgment remains against the Levitical priests, “but the Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols when Israel went astray, shall bear their punishment” (Ezekiel 44:10). Priests are called to a higher standard. They represent the people before God and God before the people. If the people are faithless, they must remain faithful. If they do not, they bear not only their own guilt, but share in the guilt of all. 

One family of priests did remain true to God and Ezekiel singles them out, “the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me” (Ezekiel 44:15). Zadok had served faithfully as priest during the reigns of David and Solomon, and was appointed leader among the priests. His faithfulness, apparently, passed along to his children and his children’s children. 

It is an easy thing, finding the faithful. They are the ones standing before God when everyone else is bowing to the world.

Our choice is always idolatry or faith. Idolatry was the ongoing offense of Israel, choosing something other than God; faithfulness chooses God over everything. God said of the sons of Zadok, “this shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance: and you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession” (Ezekiel 44:28). To be given no possession in Israel seems an odd reward, but they were not given nothing. They were given nothing but God, and that is everything. 

“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” ~Matthew 6:33

Daily Prayer

Holy Father, Thy Kingdom come! We long for the eternity ahead of us, when we are free from sin, when we are surrounded with Your holiness, when the world is pure and good, when the lion lays with the lamb, when there is peace on earth. God, as we live this side of eternity, may our lives reflect Your Kingdom in a world that desperately needs love and purity. May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

You are my King, and You have invited me into Your Kingdom. “Follow me,” you offered (and could have commanded). You gave me the choice, to put my life in the hands of this world, or in the world to come. I will give up all, and place my life in Your hands. I am Yours.

Amen

Daily Question

Why is idolatry more popular than faith?

Posted on

Something Good

Daily Reading

Jeremiah 10-13

Daily Thought

“But the Lord is the true God;
he is the living God and the everlasting King.
It is he who made the earth by his power,
who established the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.” ~Jeremiah 10:10, 12

In a discussion of first causes, or “what started everything,” the believer’s answer is God. Then comes the snappy retort, “But, who created God?” 

Really? 

If someone else created God, would not that someone else then be God? Then who created that someone? And that one, and the next one. Ad infinitum. The point is there is a beginning and either nothing or something or, better yet, Someone started everything. Those are the choices.

Idolatry is replacing God with something else, but Jeremiah argues that anything else is actually nothing: “Idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good” (Jeremiah 10:5). Our idols nowadays are not so much wood and stone, but ideas. In college, I was unprepared for an essay exam, so I wrote a lot of nothing, hoping volume would pass for knowledge. When the paper was graded and returned, the professor had written across the front, large and in red, “This is not right. It is not even wrong.” A lot of our ideas are volume passing for knowledge. They are nothing. Not bad, not good. Nothing. 

“Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of delusion.” ~Jeremiah 10:14-15

The problem with nothing is, well, Billy Preston sang it, “Nothin’ from nothin’ leaves nothin’.” There is a simple poetic sense to that. “Nothing comes from nothing. Nothing ever could,” chirps Julie Andrews in Sound of Music. “So somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.” 

She is on to something.

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. ~Genesis 1:31

Daily Prayer

My Father in heaven, You are holy and good, righteous and wonderful, and You made me in Your image. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Every one is.

I know, God, that I am Your creation, accountable to You. I am not my own, I belong to You, and the welfare of others is my concern because it is Your concern. You have blessed me, Lord, and I shall strive to be a blessing to others. What I have I will share, holding loosely all that You have placed in my possession. May I be an agent of Your grace to this world.

Amen

Daily Question

Where do you see the goodness of God in creation?

Posted on

Que Sara Sara

Daily Reading

Psalm 115-118

Daily Thought

Why, the psalmist wonders, would anyone put their trust in things that know nothing, with “mouths, but do not speak” and “eyes, but do not see” and “ears, but do not hear” and “noses, but do not smell” and “hands, but do not feel” and “feet, but do not walk” (Psalm 115:4-7). We worship idols of silver and gold and follow the stars or fate.

We trust our math, but math does not think. It’s mechanical: 2 plus 2 is always 4. Math leads a dull life. Que sera sera–what will be, will be. The same with science. We use science to do wonderful things, and we should, but science itself simply observes. Why would you trust it with your life? Science does not love you. It cares nothing for you at all.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. ~Romans 1:22-23

Life is neither random nor wooden; it is personal. Science and math and fate and the stars do what they are told, but “our God does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3). He made the stars in the heaven, and he made the butterfly flap. He made everything and knows every one, and he loves “you and your children! May you be blessed by the Lord, who made heaven and earth!” (Psalm 115:14-15).

Math and science explain a lot, but cannot explain love–but the apostle John can because he met Jesus: “We love because he first loved us” (1John 4:19). It’s personal and we follow God for his pleasure. And ours.

Daily Prayer

My God and Savior, You are good. Your Son even said, “No one is good, but God alone.” Certainly not me. Yet, you have given me righteousness. Not mine, but the righteousness of Jesus Christ. What a gift. Thank you God. Why in the world do You care about me? Because You do what You please and You chose to love me. I certainly didn’t do anything to deserve it. Thank You!!

May the Name of Jesus be praised, be honored, be worshiped. My God and Savior. May my life point to salvation through Your Son, the One who cares, who gave His all for me.

Amen

Daily Question

Why do you worship God?

Posted on

Baseball Cards

Daily Reading

Jeremiah 51-52

Daily Thought

Boys collect baseball cards, but when we were boys, we didn’t know any better. We liked the clicking sound baseball cards made when you clothespinned them to the spokes on your bicycle. It didn’t matter what card; Mickey Mantle made the same noise as Yogi Berra. We did not know that a 1914 Babe Ruth would sell for $717,000, or a 1952 Mickey Mantle for $2,880,000, or a 1909 Honus Wagner for $3,120,000. 

“Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
and there is no breath in them.
They are worthless, a work of delusion.” ~Jeremiah 51:17-18

Prophets are seldom subtle. There is one God, proclaims Jeremiah, and “it is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens” (Jeremiah 51:15). It is the fool who bows before objects of wood and stone, cardboard and clay, who values things more than the Creator of everything. 

We pinned baseball cards to our wheels because we did not know people would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for a 2”x3” piece of cardboard. And we were the foolish ones?

Daily Prayer

Most Wonderful God, I worship You. The galaxies, the stars, the moon and sun, planet earth, oceans, animals, and me. You created it all, simply by Your Word. You spoke and it was, and it was good.

There are times, God, when I value things too much, when creation steals more of my attention than the Creator. Lord, may I never lose sight of You, Your glory, Your wisdom. May I always be foolish enough to disdain the wisdom and the wealth of this world, and find my full value in You.

Amen

Posted on

Limping Along

Daily Reading

1Kings 18-20

Daily Thought

The prophet Elijah chides the people of Israel, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him” (1Kings 18:21). The people had no answer. Many secretly believed in the Lord, but there was public advantage in Baal worship. Sin always comes with benefits. Most, however, simply saw no difference. Why could not the Lord be God, and Baal, also. Two paths up the same mountain. 

Why must I choose? Because God is true, Baal is a lie, and King Ahab would have Israel follow a lie. Because the truth brings life, and a lie leads to destruction and death. The Lord warned Israel through Elijah, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word” (1Kings 17:1). The true God holds the rain, so he chides Israel, if you would follow Baal, ask him for water. Now, three dry years later, Elijah calls the question, “How long will you go limping?” This wishy-washy way of compromise and indecision must end.

One foggy night at sea the captain of a ship saw what looked like the lights of another ship heading toward him. He signaled the ship, “Change your course ten degrees to the south.” The reply, “No. You change your course ten degrees north.” “I am a captain in this navy,” he insisted, “so you change course ten degrees south.” Answered the light, “I am a seaman first class. Change your course north.” Infuriated, the captain blustered, “I am a battleship. Change your course immediately!” The final response came, “I am a lighthouse. Your call, captain.” It is important to know what you are up against.

It was time to decide, so Elijah clarified the choices. 450 prophets placed a bull on the altar and cried to Baal for fire. From morning until noon they pleaded, but they knew inside they were calling to nobody. For three minutes or three hours or three days they could beg, but nothing comes from nothing and there is no god in Baal. Elijah prepared his bull, adding dramatic touches, such as drenching the altar with water, for effect. He spoke to God, but only once, because his God was there. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench (1Kings 18:38).

Your call, Israel.

Daily Prayer

My God, I am glad to boast in You. Truth that You declare, I speak with confidence. When You say something will happen, I know it is as true as if it had already occurred. What you say will happen, happens. I trust in You and You alone.

Let the truth I know become the praise I declare. I stand by this, that I know the God of Creation, who exercises justice and kindness and righteousness on this earth. That I know Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord. That I know the Truth and the Truth has set me free to live a life of wonder and worship.

Amen

Posted on

Law of Stickiness

Daily Reading

Exodus 30-32

Daily Thought

The Hebrew people watched as God showered plagues of frogs and flies and fire, blood and boils and death. Ten plagues it took to convince the Pharaoh of Egypt to heed God’s demand to “Let my people go” (Exodus 5:1; 7:16; 8:1, 8, 20, 21; 9:1, 13; 10:4), until he changed his mind and the Egyptian army boxed the Israelites against the Red Sea. So God parted the sea and the Hebrew people escaped, then closed the sea and the Egyptian army drowned. This is the Exodus and it was amazing. It would have made a great movie. The people of God had been delivered from slavery and were heading toward the Promised Land. It was the kind of thing you never forget. 

You would think. 

The Hebrew people watched as God showered plagues of frogs and flies and fire, blood and boils and death. Ten plagues it took to convince the Pharaoh of Egypt to heed God’s repeated demand to “Let my people go” (Exodus 5:1; 7:16; 8:1, 8, 20, 21; 9:1, 13; 10:4), but then Pharaoh changed his mind again and the Egyptian army pursued the Israelites and boxed them against the Red Sea. So God parted the sea and gave the Hebrew people an escape, then closed the sea and drowned the Egyptian army. This is the Exodus and it was amazing. It would make a great movie. The people of God had been delivered from slavery and were heading toward the Promised Land. It was the kind of thing you never forget. 

People have short memories, They are impatient and fickle. They were then and they are now. For example, a good web site designer knows the first law of the web, The Law of Stickiness: People are sticky, but they are not loyal. If they find a web site that serves their needs they stick with it, but the moment that site disappoints (by being slower than usual or temporarily unavailable), they move to the competition. The Law of God says, “I am the LORD your God. You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2-3); but the Law of Stickiness says God must improve his performance or we will make a golden calf.  

There is a problem, however, the golden calf is not really an alternative. “Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other” (Deuteronomy 4:39). The LORD alone is God. There is no competition. And that means, you do not seek an alternative, you do not switch to a golden calf. You wait. If God is late (and God is always late), wait–“I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope” (Psalm 130:5). God is often slow just so I will wait, so I will learn to wait. How much beauty I miss because I do not wait, because he makes all things beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:10), not mine. 

Daily Prayer

My Father in Heaven, how I trust in You. My confidence is in Your goodness and Your strength. My life is in Your care. I know that You offer life, life overflowing, abundant life.

May I always seek You first. May I always seek You only. Your kingdom with Your Son on the throne is my greatest hope. May I at all times maintain loyalty to You, keep faith in You, wait on You, trust in You. You are God.

Amen