Ever read the horoscope before leaving the house? Heard of a government who shut off the water supply to a farming community because a minnow was in jeopardy? Move people from land they own because a tree, creature or plant is near extinction? Require a cup of coffee or a Hershey Kiss or somebody will get hurt! Safe to say we are worshiping the creation more than the creator.
God is a jealous God. He will never be second. Even His sun, moon, stars, trees, rivers, seas and lakes, the very things that He Himself created and declared that it was all good. Even those. He will not tolerate a reverence that places them above Him.
Our culture will seek after information about movie stars, sports figure and politicians before opening Bibles. The biography of people is more interesting than the study of Jesus Christ the Messiah, Savior of the world. More will stand outside in freezing temperatures to get a glimpse of an “entertainer” than will stand outside a church seeking to find and worship Jesus. Is that what this scripture is talking about?
Scripture assures us that anything that we place above God is an idol. Money, people, cars, the moon, the sun, the stars, trees, fame, prestige…All of it, is here because God allows it to be so. Goodness, I suppose we could include coffee and sodas. That thought right there gets a bit too close to me. To my own heart.
God blesses and He takes away. Isn’t He faithful to follow through? He will remove what becomes an idol in our lives, one way or another? It can be very painful. He will not allow the worship of animals or anything He has created. When you pause to think about it, His patent includes everything. Everything we eat starts with something that came from the earth. the water we drink. From the earth. The energy we capture. God.
Thought For Today:
I have never officially observed a Lent season. It might be helpful to get our focus back on God. It is good to check our daily lives from time to time. Is there something we think we will just die if we don’t have it now, today? Chocolate instantly popped into my mind. My, my!
Will you join me in seeking to find anything that we may desire and give more importance than the One who created it? Remove it and give it a place beneath the creator? Seek Him first?
Scripture For Today:
Romans 1:25
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. (KJV)
Romans 1:25
And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes! (The Message)
Prayer For Today:
Hello Father! All things are yours. You are above it all. We have a tendency to get caught up in the culture that makes Your creation more important than You. Father, we discard the welfare of human life and replace it with worship of fish, animals, the air, the earth, things created by You. We pray that we place You above all things. That we see that You have blessed us with these things for what they are…Blessings…Not gods to be worshiped. Forgive us of our sins. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
©2015 Kathy Ledbetter. All rights reserved.