We know this is true, which raises the question: In our advanced society with so much to offer, how do you know with certainty if you are serving God or stuff?
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
No other gods
It sounds so simple. "You shall have no other gods besides me." The first commandment is not only saying that God is to be preeminent, but we are expected to have no gods beside Him, or next to Him. We know instinctively that "other gods" is not limited to characters like Zeus or Molech, but includes anything and everything that boasts of providing security and confidence. This is why Jesus warned us of a broad idolatry that includes the mundane details of everyday goods. "You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24b). Mammon is an Aramaic word meaning treasure, property, or my favorite, one's pile. Your pile of stuff that secures your well-being and provides comfort. Your insurance policy, running water, dependable vehicle, ski trips, stock-pile of firewood, garden plot, education, bank account, high-school sports, military strength... Your stuff, our stuff, those things that, because of their inherent goodness, subtly vie for equality with God on the throne of your heart. You can't serve both God and stuff. You can't place confidence in both God and stuff. You can't trust your security, future or current, to both God and stuff.
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Here is my thought. If you are a Husker fan I'm pretty sure you are serving God. Or not. This is an area that is very easy to take an extreme angle on. Somehow we aren't trusting God completely if we decide to get insurance. Or we are foolish for not getting insurance. We are to be good stewards of our time and money and God has given us what we need to survive. We are responsible for taking care of ourselves and our families and that doesn't always look the same to everyone. God also wants us to have fun. He has given most of us that desire for adventure and fun. My question is, are you able to give it up if God asks you to?
this has been something i can't quite get a handle on. i feel as if i am moved more to find comfort than find a King. it's not that comforts themselves are bad...it's that always trying to be comfortable is killing me.
so i guess what i am saying is...i want a glimpse of the King, with HIS train filling the temple, that burns so hot in my mind and life it burns up all other gods and idols and drives me to fall on me knees and worship.
but most days i settle for a good cup of coffee instead...
This is a constant struggle for me. I'm sure it is a constant struggle for most believers in the U.S. I know that I am never completely serving or trusting Christ because I always catch myself trying to control the situations that I am in. This question makes me think of Matthew 10:38-39. To take up my cross and follow Him. Well that means I give it all away. "He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it." I know this has to do with salvation and puting our trust in Christ, but when I read this as a believer I look at it meaning that if I strive for self preservation I will never find it and in the end lose it all anyway. And obviously if I give it up for Christ's sake He will give me what I was looking for all along. It just may not be in the form of an Alaskan vacation. I am no where near this point, nor do I know what it would even look like in my abundant American life.
First, I had to look up “ruminations” and “fodder” on dictionary.com, and weird enough I found the word “fodder” in Job 24:6 today.
How do you know with certainty if you are serving God or stuff? At first, I want to answer, GOD! So I asked myself where do I find security, confidence and comfort. I know all these things should be found in God, but I unfortunately have some worldly answers too. Here they are. Financial security comes from Darren’s job and tapping into our 401K should Darren lose his job. Personal security comes from my big husband, the police, locks on the doors, our dogs, and our guns. I used to have lots of confidence in myself; I can do it myself attitude. As I get older and make more mistakes that is fading. I have confidence in my marriage. My comfort comes mostly from praying and lots from Darren too. I know some of these answers are wrong.
So I went to biblegateway.com to search for the right answers. I did keyword searches on security, confidence and comfort. I found many places that say, God will give us peace and security. My favorite for confidence was Isaiah 21:17 “The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.” My favorite for comfort was 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
So, I’m doing OK on one out of three.
And the best overall correct answer I could find was Philippians 3:7-14 “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
As I read the answers posted ahead of mine, I can relate to all the answers. It is definately a process that God helps us work through. It is in the process that we grow, learn, and build a relationship with God. God views us as His children. As a parent, I know that raising children is a process. Children aren't born knowing everything they need to know to be successful in life. The same is true for us. When we accept Christ as our savior, we are born again. At this birth, we are not magically transformed into an all knowing/perfect person. God looks at the sincerity of our hearts and gives us grace for our failures. So just keep trying!
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