THE SIN OF IDOLATRY!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY OCTOBER 05, 2023.

SUBJECT : THE SIN OF IDOLATRY!

Memory verse: "Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10 vs 23.)

READ: Job 31 vs 24 - 28:

31:24: If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;

31:25: If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;

31:26: If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;

31:27: And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth has kissed my hand:

31:28: This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.

INTIMATION:

Idolatry is the worship of idols, images, or anything which is not God; the worship of false gods. It is the excessive admiration or adoration or veneration for anything—someone or something. It’s someone or something which is highly revered, and becomes a deity other than God. Such deity or thing is known as an idol. 

An idol, therefore, in the context of our discussion, is that on which affections are strongly (often excessively) set; an object of passionate devotion, a person or thing greatly loved and adored. It is primarily an idea, fancy, or an image that represents a false God. It’s anything that substitutes for the true faith, anything that denies Christ’s full deity and humanity, and any loyalty that replaces God at the center of one’s life. It is also any human idea that claims to be more authoritative than the Bible, 

The corresponding Hebrew word for idol denotes vanity (things of nought). The apostle Paul called it, “nothing in the world” (First Corinthians 8 vs 4). And an idolater is one who adores or idolizes someone or something, and is a slave to the depraved ideas his idols represent. Idolatry is sin against God because it denies the supremacy of God and is a direct violation of the first and second of the Ten Commandments of God (Exodus 20 vs 2 - 3). It’s a sin of the mind against God that denotes lack of acknowledgement of God and of gratitude to Him. Many things can take God’s place in our lives. And such things becomes idols in our lives.

Idolatry begins when people reject what they know about God. Instead of looking to Him as the Creator and Sustainer of life, they see themselves as the center of the universe. They soon invent “gods” that are convenient projections of their own selfish ideas. These gods may be wooden figures, or they may also be goals or things we pursue, such as money, power, or possessions. They may even be misrepresentations of God Himself—making God in our own image, instead of the reverse. The common denominator here is that idolaters worship things God made rather than God Himself. 

When God is not first in your life, you are an idolater. Something then must be first in your life. Now, check yourself; is there anything you feel you can’t live without? Is there any priority greater than God? Do you have a dream you would sacrifice everything to realize? After haven checked yourself, do you worship God or idols of your own making? 

Idolatry is making anything more important than God, and our lives are full of such temptation. Money, looks, success, reputation, security—these are today’s idols. Many “gods” entice us to turn away from God. Material possessions, dreams for the future, approval of others, emotional reactions, and vocational goals compete for our total commitment. Striving after these at the expense of our commitment to God puts our heart on created idols which is sin. They put away worshiping the Creator in order to worship the creation. 

We are just as guilty when God no longer holds first place in our lives. When we think more about wealth, pleasure, prestige, or material possessions than about God, we are actually worshiping them as gods. Discipline awaits all those who continually put earthly desires above spiritual priorities. It is for this reason that Jesus said it is very difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of God because the rich, having their basic physical needs met, often become self-reliant. When they feel empty, they buy something new to try to fill the void that only God can fill. Their abundance and self-sufficiency become their deficiency. The person who has everything on earth is not a sign of faith or partiality on God’s part, but rather a strong temptation to idolatry.

Job affirmed that depending on wealth for happiness is idolatry and denies the God of heaven. We excuse our society’s obsession with money and possessions as a necessary evil or ”the way it works” in the modern world. But every society in every age has valued the power and prestige that money brings. True believers must purge themselves of the deep-seated desire for more power, prestige, and possessions. They must also not withhold their resources from neighbors near and far who have disparate physical needs.

To all believers the apostle Paul says, “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth; fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry:” (Colossians 3 vs 5.) “For this you know, that no fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” (Ephesians 5 vs 5.) The obsession of these aforementioned evil tendencies, the apostle Paul says, is idolatry.

Prayer: Abba Father, remove from me obsessions with created things, and give me the grace to overcome the attraction of any evil tendencies in this world, rather empower me by Your Spirit to live for You, putting You first in everything in my life, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Justice Will Be Done

 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)

All of you have been wronged at one time or another. Most of you, probably, have been wronged seriously by someone who has never apologized or done anything sufficient to make it right.

And one of the deep hindrances to your letting go of that hurt and bitterness is the conviction — the justified conviction — that justice should be done, that the moral fabric of the universe will unravel if people can just get away with horrible wrongs and deceive everyone.

That is one of the hindrances to forgiveness and letting grudges go. It’s not the only one. We have our own sin to deal with. But it is a real one.

We feel that just to let it go would be to admit that justice simply won’t be done. And we can’t do it.

So we hold on to anger, and play the events or the words over and over again with the feelings: It shouldn’t have happened; it shouldn’t have happened; it was wrong; it was wrong. How can he (or she) be so happy when I am so miserable? It is so wrong. It is so wrong! We can’t let it go. And our bitterness starts to poison everything.

This word in Romans 12:19 is given to us by God to lift that burden from us.

“Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God.” What does this mean for you?

Laying down the burden of anger, laying down the practice of nursing your hurt with feelings of being wronged — laying that down — does not mean there was no great wrong against you. There was.

But it also does not mean there is no justice. It does not mean you will not be vindicated. It does not mean they just got away with it. No they didn’t.

It means, when you lay down the burden of vengeance, God will pick it up.

This is not a subtle way of getting revenge. This is a way of giving vengeance to the One to whom it belongs. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. You lay it down. I will pick it up. Justice will be done. 

What a glorious relief. I do not have to carry this burden. It is like taking a deep breath, perhaps for the first time in decades, and feeling like now at last you may be free to love.

Joy Unbound

 “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:26)

That’s what Jesus prayed the night before he died. Imagine being able to enjoy what is most enjoyable with unbounded energy and passion forever. This is not now our experience. Three things stand in the way of our complete satisfaction in this world.

One is that nothing in this created world has a personal worth great enough to meet the deepest longings of our hearts.

Another is that we lack the strength to savor the best treasures to their maximum worth.

And a third obstacle standing in the way of complete satisfaction is that our joys here come to an end. Nothing lasts. But if the aim and the prayer of Jesus in John 17:26 come true, all this will change. He prayed “that the love with which you, Father, have loved me may be in them.” God’s infinitely well-pleased love for his Son in us!

If God’s pleasure in the Son becomes our pleasure in the Son, then the object of our pleasure, Jesus, will be inexhaustible in personal worth. He will never become boring or disappointing or frustrating.

No greater treasure can be conceived than the Son of God.

Moreover, our ability to savor this inexhaustible treasure will not be limited by human weaknesses. We will enjoy the Son of God with the very enjoyment of his Father. That’s what Jesus prayed for!

God’s delight in his Son will be in us and it will be ours — our delight in the Son. And this will never end, because neither the Father nor the Son ever ends.

Their love for each other will be our love for them and therefore our loving them will never die, nor ever diminish.

BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 04, 2023.

SUBJECT : BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING!

Memory verse: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." (Philippians 4 vs 6.)

READ: Philippians 4 vs 4 - 7:

4:4: Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say rejoice!

4:5: Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

4:6: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

4:7: And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

INTIMATION:

Being anxious is being uneasy with fear or desire regarding something; worrying, or craving, or yearning for something. Anxiety is the offshoot of care or desire for earthly things. 

Imagine being anxious for nothing! It seems like an impossibility, right? We all have responsibilities, and worries; on the job, in our homes, in our business, at school, our relationships with others, and even with God. However, the "Omni" nature of God occasioned the counsel of Jesus Christ to us, viz; "Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life." This is because everything, including your life, is planned and purposed by the Owner, who determines circumstances, and commands or allows events as is pleasing to Him (Lamentation 3 vs 37). 

Now, have you realized that you contributed nothing, absolutely nothing, in the creation of this world, including yourself. God created the world, and all that is in it. He owns everything, planned everything, and manages everything according to His plans and purposes for creating them. He is the "Beginning and the End." 

I am always humbled by God's description of Himself, "..For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet known, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do My pleasure,' (Isaiah 46 vs 9 - 10.)

If then you don't have any control over your life, why worry about things. Christians should put their trust in God, for it is He who is working all things together according to His purposes. Christians must not worry, for to worry is to doubt God’s ability to take care of all things and work all things together for the good of the Christian. 

Worriers are consumed by fear and find it difficult to trust God. They let their plans interfere with their relationship with God. Don't let worries about tomorrow affect your relationship with God today.

Sincerely, our attitude in all things, according to the Scripture, should be to carry our worries, stresses, and daily struggles to God, and trust Him with them, rather than carrying them by ourselves. Sometimes we think that struggles caused by our own sin and foolishness are not God's concern. But when we turn to God in repentance, He will bear the weight even of those struggles. 

Letting God have your anxieties calls for action, that is actually surrendering all to Him. Ensure you don't submit to circumstances, but to the Lord who controls circumstances. Turn your worries into prayers. Whenever you start to worry, you stop to pray, and if you start to pray, you stop to worry. Always give God the first place in your life. 

In the passage we read today, the apostle Paul was advising the believers in Philippi from the prison. It is quite strange that a man in prison will be telling a church to rejoice. This is because he knows that no matter what happens, God is in control of all things.

People, objects, goals, and other desires all compete for priority. Any of these can quickly bump God out of your life, out of first place if you don't actively choose to give Him first place in every area of your life. Because of the effects of worry, Jesus tells us not to worry about those needs that God promises to supply. 

Worry may damage your health, cause the object of your worry to consume your thoughts, disrupt your productivity, negatively affect the way you treat others, reduce your ability to trust in God. Worry immobilizes, but genuine concern moves you to action.

Prayer: Abba Father, all things are Yours, and You have promised to meet all my needs according to Your riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Therefore, give me the grace to put away all cares and worries in my life and cast them upon You. I hold tight to Your promise to be with me always, and meet all my needs, in Jesus' Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Absolute, Sovereign, Almighty Love

 “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” (Exodus 34:6)

God abounds in steadfast love and faithfulness. 

Two images come to my mind:

The heart of God is like an inexhaustible spring of water that bubbles up love and faithfulness at the top of the mountain. Century after century the spring keeps on flowing.

Or the heart of God is like a volcano that burns so hot with love that it blasts the top off the mountain and flows year after year with the lava of love and faithfulness.

When God uses the word “abounding” — “abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” — he wants us to understand and feel that the resources of his love are not limited. You can drink at this mountain spring all day, year after year, generation after generation, and it never runs dry. 

You might even risk saying that God is like a government that simply prints more money when there’s a need. Inexhaustible, right? Well, there’s a difference. God has an infinite treasury of golden love to cover all the currency he prints. The government is in a dream world. God banks very realistically on the infinite resources of his deity.

The absolute existence, the sovereign freedom, and the omnipotence of God are the volcanic fullness that explodes in an overflow of love. The sheer magnificence of God means that he does not need us to fill up any deficiency in himself. Instead his infinite self-sufficiency spills over in love to us — to sinners — who need him, and the gift of himself in Jesus.

We can bank on his love precisely because we believe in the absoluteness of his existence, the sovereignty of his freedom, and the limitlessness of his power.

BOASTING IN OUR INFIRMITIES!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY OCTOBER 03, 2023.

SUBJECT : BOASTING IN OUR INFIRMITIES!

Memory verse: "Of such a one will I boast: yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities." (Second Corinthians 12 vs 5.)

READ: Second Corinthians 12 vs 8 - 10:

12:8: Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.

12:9: And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, most gladly therefore will I rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

12:10: Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.   

INTIMATION: 

To boast in our infirmities is to be happy, to rejoice in them, knowing that the Creator allowed it for His purpose; to show His strength, and power in such weaknesses. It is not for you and I to despair in our weaknesses or infirmities because they can never be any form of limitations to God, but rather an opportunity to demonstrate His power through His grace. 

For emphasis, the apostle Paul said in the memory verse, ‘I am going to boast only about how weak I am and how great God is to use such weakness to His glory.’ Instead of posing as self-confident and invincible, see yourself as a trophy of grace. Your weaknesses ought to be a limitation, but by His grace you overcome with it.

When the apostle Paul spoke of his infirmities, he was actually glorifying the power of God who was able to help him live with his infirmities. He learned, therefore, to trust in God’s power to deliver. He didn’t trust in his own ingenuity as the false prophets do. If we boast concerning our accomplishments, then we have the tendency to glory in our own ability to perform. 

The apostle Paul had an infirmity—“thorn in the flesh” (which I believe was an eye problem according to his statement in Galatian 4 vs 15). The infirmity was a chronic and debilitating problem, which at times kept him from working. It was a hindrance to his ministry, and he prayed for its removal, but God refused, instead He promised to demonstrate His strength in him; “for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

The apostle Paul was a very self-sufficient person, so the ‘thorn’ must have been difficult for him. Three times he prayed for healing and did not receive it. He received, however, things greater because he received greater grace from God; a stronger character, humility, and ability to empathize with others. In addition, it benefited those around him as they saw God at work in his life. 

God, according to His sovereign plan, doesn’t heal some believers of their physical ailments. We don’t know why some are spared and others aren’t. But God chooses according to His divine purposes. The apostle Paul was a living proof at the time that holy living and courageous faith do not ensure instant physical healing. When we pray fo healing, we must entrust our bodies to God’s care. We must recognize that nothing separates us from the love of God (Romans 8 vs 35 - 39) and that our spiritual condition is always more important than our physical condition. 

The fact that God’s power is displayed in our weaknesses should give us courage and hope. As we recognize our limitations, we will depend more on God for our effectiveness rather than on our own energies, efforts, or talents. Our limitations help develop our worship, because in admitting them, we affirm God’s strength. God told the apostle Paul, “My grace (My favor, lovingkindness, and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness.” (Amplified Version.)

The fact that God's power is displayed in weak people should give us courage. When Satan points out your weaknesses, agree with him and fill your heart with praise for Jesus, who ‘understands every weakness of ours,’ and for the Holy Spirit, who helps our weaknesses. (Romans 8 vs 26.) As a believer, God will not leave you to your own resources to cope with problems. Instead we turn to God to seek pathways for our effectiveness, rather than rely on our own energies, efforts, or talents. Even when you don't know the right words to pray, the Holy Spirit prays with and for you, and God answers.

Sometimes, however, God turns a strength into a weakness in order to use us even more. Jacob was a manipulator who spent his life scheming and then running from the consequences. One night he wrestled with God and said, ‘I'm not letting you go until you bless me.’ God said, ‘All right,’ but then he grabbed Jacob's thigh and dislocated his hip. What is the significance of that? God touched Jacob's strength (the thigh muscle is the strongest in the body) and turned it into a weakness. From that day forward, Jacob walked with a limp so he could never run away again. It forced him to lean on God whether he liked it or not. 

Physical infirmities remind us that we live in a physical world, but are looking forward to a realm of dwelling wherein there will be no pain (Revelation 21 vs 4). If there were no pain in this world, then we would not desire a heavenly realm of dwelling that is free of pain. When we are strong in abilities or resources, we are tempted to do God’s work on our own, and that can lead to pride. When we are weak, allowing God to fill us with His power, then we are stronger than we could ever be on our own. God does not intend for us to be weak, passive, or ineffective. However, life provides enough hindrances and setbacks without us creating them. When those obstacles come, we must depend on God. 

“My grace is sufficient.” This one statement concerning the grace of God manifests God’s sufficiency to deal with all aspects of man. God is able to deliver us from this physical world. God is able to deliver us from the power of sin and death. Therefore, whether in the midst of physical suffering or mourning over our sin, we must trust that God is able to deliver us. Such trust in God’s grace will carry us through times of hardship. 

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You most gracious Lord for Your strength that is made perfect in my weakness. Forever my trust is in You, and I am persuaded that nothing can take away Your love for me. Give me the grace never to shift my attention from You all the days of my life, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

God Isn’t Gloomy

 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. (Psalm 33:10–11)

“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3). The implication of this text is that God has the right and power to do whatever makes him happy. That is what it means to say that God is sovereign.

Think about it for a moment: If God is sovereign and can do anything he pleases, then none of his purposes can be frustrated. “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations” (Psalm 33:10–11).

And if none of his purposes can be frustrated, then he must be the happiest of all beings.

This infinite, divine happiness is the fountain from which the Christian (Hedonist) drinks and longs to drink more deeply.

Can you imagine what it would be like if the God who ruled the world were not happy? What if God were given to grumbling and pouting and depression, like some Jack-and-the-beanstalk giant in the sky? What if God were frustrated and despondent and gloomy and dismal and discontented and dejected?

Could we join David and say, “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1)? I don’t think so.

We would all relate to God like little children who have a frustrated, gloomy, dismal, discontented father. They can’t enjoy him. They can only try not to bother him, or maybe try to work for him to earn some little favor. 

But that is not the way God is. He is never out of sorts with frustration or discouragement. And, as Psalm 147:11 says, he “takes pleasure . . . in those who hope in his steadfast love.” So the aim of the Christian Hedonist is not to avoid this God, not to run from him, or tiptoe through the living room lest his gloominess become anger. No, our aim is to hope in his steadfast love. To run to him. To be happy in God, to delight in God, to cherish and enjoy his fellowship and favor.