Freedom from Idols

Although I still want to share about my retreat with Jesus that I had on Monday (He really showed up, and it was awesome!), I thought it was more important today to say a short word about freedom.

One of the commenters on Monday said that a post about idols on a Monday was sure a heavy way to start the week. That made me laugh, and boy was she right!

The part that I left out was an essential part, so let's lighten up and talk about destroying idols today.

As Tara taught us on the DVD Sunday morning (boy do I wish I could sit under her teaching in person!), she used a quote from John Calvin which labeled all humans as "idol factories". How true! God not only made us in His own image, He made us with a deep-rooted nature that MUST worship something.

Left to our own fallen sin nature, that translates really badly. Without the redemptive work of God in our lives, we are doomed to create and worship one destructive idol after another. Like me, you might have felt that same despair as God used the questions from the post on Monday to start revealing your idols to you.

Here's the very Good News, though. We have not been left without God's redemptive work in us. If we have believed in our hearts and confessed with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, He is very much alive and working in us to destroy idols and restore us to the highest human calling of loving Him.

So, in Tara's words, here is the antidote for idol worship:

"Right worship of God--a growing love for God--displaces wrong worship of idols."

Good stuff, right?

I'd like to add my own words to that:

"Right worship of God--a growing love for God and a growing understanding of His love for me--displaces wrong worship of idols."

I'm reminded about an Indian pastor's description to our American group about the baptism of new believers in India. The new believers would come to the pool of baptism with their arms laden with the carved gods and goddesses that had filled their home. All these idols would be lined up on one side of the pool. The new believers would turn their backs on them and then be baptised. Afterward, the idols would be collected by a member of the church and trashed.

What a beautiful picture! As we turn our backs on our idols and turn toward God, we'll be cleansed and renewed. That's a wonderful promise for a Wednesday.