Month: February 2021

24
Feb
2021
Idols of the Heart

Idols of the Heart

Throughout the Old Testament, we see God commanding the people of Israel to “have no other gods before Him.” (Exodus 20:3). Yet, throughout the Old Testament we see the Israelites time and time again worshipping idols. I am currently reading through the book of Exodus and just read the account of the Golden Calf in Exodus 34. I look at these people and I think, “How quickly you have forgotten what God has done for you.” How could they forget the 10 plagues, crossing the Red Sea on dry ground, watching the Egyptian army that was coming after them be swallowed up by that Red Sea, manna, quail, water from a rock, etc.? As we come to Exodus 34, we see that they did. They forgot. All the miracles that God had done for them, quickly left their memories and they made a golden calf to worship instead.

We often think that the Old Testament stories are from a different era, a different time period, a different culture and have no relevance to today, but that is so far from the truth. These stories are very relevant to today. We may not worship a Golden Calf or make idols of Baal or other gods, but we can still be guilty of idolatry.

Often times, we think of current idols as “things.”  Things like a car, a boat, a house, a cottage on the lake, our phones, or some other inanimate object. Yet, if we dig deeper into these things, we will find that there is something else at the base of our desire for these things.

Last week, I wrote about “Think about what you are thinking about” and asked you to trace back the emotions you are having to your thoughts and then to trace those emotions back to what you are wanting.

I have written about our emotions and thoughts in a blog last year as well. Please follow this link to read more.

When we follow the trail, we will see what our idols are. Start with your emotions. Then ask yourself, “What is it that you are thinking?” This leads to our wants. Once we dig into what we want, it will lead us to our present day idols.

Emotions – Thinking – Wanting – Idols

No one really wants to go through this process. Who wants to be told that they have idols of the heart that they are worshipping? No one does, but do you ever feel like you are empty? Maybe you feel like you are in search of things that always seem out of your grasp. Striving for that sense of satisfaction or happiness that you never can attain. That is because you are seeking after an idol.

Here is a list of present day idols of the heart that many of us seek and search after:

  • Security
  • Affection/love
  • Attention
  • Satisfaction
  • Comfort/refuge/ease of life
  • Joy/happiness
  • Approval

Thinking back to what I wrote about last week – you don’t receive the recognition for an accomplishment that is truly yours to receive. What idol could we be seeking? Approval or Satisfaction

What about when your friends treat you poorly? Approval or Attention

What about when you have a “discussion” with someone and they don’t seem to care about your point of view? Love, approval.

What about when things seem too hard? Comfort, ease of life.

What about when a relationship seems too hard and yet you know that you have a responsibility to help that person see Christ? Comfort/ ease of life

God wants us to have no other gods before Him, because He knows that we will never find joy and happiness when we are worshipping these other idols.

God does not need us to worship Him. We need to worship Him.

God knows that the more we seek after the idols of our hearts, the emptier we will be. The more we seek after God and seek to worship Him and Him alone, the more joyful and fulfilled we will be.

Evaluate your emotions. What are they telling you? What are you thinking? What are you wanting? What idols of the heart are you worshipping?

“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:1-4)

(There is a great book and sermon series by Brad Bigney on this topic of Idols of the Heart called Gospel Treason. This link is to the first sermon in his series on this topic.)

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17
Feb
2021
Think about what you think about

Think about what you think about

Last week, I wrote about Scripture memorization and the transformation that it has had in my life. The transformation that has taken place is not that I can better remember where I laid my glasses, rather it has made an alteration in my thinking.

Do you ever stop to think about you’re are thinking about?

What do you think about? Have you ever taken stock in even those fleeting thoughts that are hardly even perceptible, and yet they are? I know it seems like a strange question to wonder if you have thought about what you think about, but our thoughts impact every aspect of our lives whether we realize it or not.

Let’s consider a few things that we all at some point or other have thought. “That’s not fair.” I know we have all thought this one. Someone else gets recognition and you worked just as hard. It may have even been your hard work that this person received accolades for and there was no acknowledgement of you. What about the friends that are disrespectful to you and say things that are not true, and your actions toward them have been nothing but kind and honorable. Have we thought, “That’s not fair?” Or even “what did I do to deserve this?”

I am sure many of us have thought, “This is so hard. I can’t do this.” Whatever the obstacle is in front of us, it appears to be too difficult. It takes too much effort. Whether it is the challenging friendship, the difficult child (or puppy right now in my caseJ), a difficult spouse, or a grueling job. The list could go on, but there are many things in life that feel so overwhelming and we think, “I can’t do this.”

As we allow ourselves to think these thoughts repeatedly, they begin to impact our emotions. Our emotions begin to be a byproduct of our thoughts. Again, this is not something that we are even aware of.

What are we feeling when we experience the “That’s not fair” thought? If someone else receives recognition that we should receive, we might experience anger. What is at the root of that anger? We wanted the recognition, but what is at the root of us wanting the recognition? We feel like we deserve it. Rather than being happy for the other person that received the recognition, we want our fair share.

What about when you are in a “discussion” with someone and you begin to feel angry because they do not see your point of view on things. What is it you are thinking: “I just want them to understand what I am saying. I want them to see my point of view. I want them to agree with me. I just want to be heard.” When the other person does not see things our way, we get angry.  Did you ever stop to think about what they are trying to say? See their point of view? Actually listen to them and seek to understand with more clarity? That anger you are experiencing is rooted in you wanting your way.

When things are harder than you thought they should be and these circumstances that you are confronted with seem too hard, what are you thinking? “I can’t do this. Why are things not going the way I thought they should be?” These thoughts can lead to feelings of anxiety or depression.

So what are you thinking? What do you need to do? When you experience an emotion, you need to evaluate it. What are you thinking? What are you wanting?

Take some time to evaluate what you are thinking and what you are wanting. Begin to evaluate these emotions, and trace them back to your thoughts.

“As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Prov. 23:7).

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10
Feb
2021

Yes, you can Memorize Scripture

A few years ago, I wanted to improve my prayer life. I decided to work at memorizing Scripture that would be good Scripture to incorporate into my prayers. What better thing to pray than God’s Word. So I set out to memorize Scripture. I began in November 2018. I have been memorizing chapters or parts of chapters rather than a verse here and a verse there. Memorizing at my age has become more of a challenge than it used to be, but I decided I wasn’t going to let that get in the way of me memorizing God’s Word.

I am in the process of memorizing the book of James now. I am hoping to be done with it by the end of 2021. Part of my struggle is that I may have it memorized, but if I do not continue to review what I have memorized I easily forget it. So I have taken to reviewing the passages that I have already memorized so they do not escape. Now if I memorized a verse as a child, I can easily recall that. However, these chapters that I have memorized are not that engrained in my brain. When I am driving, I review a passage. When I am outside for a walk or riding my bike, I review what I have already memorized.  I have to admit that I am glad that I made this decision to memorize Scripture 2 years ago. The benefits and the effects it has had on my life has been amazing.

“I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.” (Psalm 77:12). I read this verse this morning and realize that this is what I have been doing. As I review God’s Word that I have memorized, it gives me the opportunity to ponder and meditate on God’s work and mighty deeds. As I lay down at night to go to sleep, I think of the things that I have to be thankful for praise God for these. When I wake up in the night to go to the bathroom, and take a few minutes to go back to sleep I begin reviewing my verses.

Without realizing it, I have transformed my thinking. What started out as a way to improve my prayer life, has transformed what I think about.

As Paul told the Romans in Romans 12:2 “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” What are you filling your mind with? What thoughts are you dwelling on? What flits through your mind without you even realizing it? Just as an athlete must make a concerted effort in the training they do, so we must make a concerted effort in renewing our mind.

Memorizing Scripture has become something that I talk to anyone that will listen to me about. It has become a passion of mine.

“I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.” (Psalm 77:12).

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03
Feb
2021
It’s Bigger than Flannel Graph

It’s Bigger than Flannel Graph

I started reading the book of Exodus for my daily devotions last week. I love the stories of the Old Testament. They are real and authentic people going through real and authentic challenges, difficulties, and hurdles. Too often we relegate these Old Testament narratives to “flannel graph” stories. As kids we would go to Sunday school and sit in front of the flannel graph board and listen to the Sunday school teacher tell us the Bible story as we watched her/him put the flannel graph pieces on the board. I appreciate all the time and effort that every Sunday school teacher put into preparing their lessons. I learned so much from them.

However, has it ever seemed that the Bible characters weren’t real? It was just a nice story, but it’s not applicable to me.

Joseph is such a giant in the faith, he must have had something that I don’t have. There is no way that if I went through all that he went through that I would be able to say “you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” (Gen. 50:20). What about Daniel or Job? They endured so much, they most certainly must have had something that I don’t have.

Actually, we have so much that they don’t have. They didn’t have a copy of the Bible, yet we have it in its entirety. They couldn’t look back and see all that Christ did for them while He was on the earth culminating in His death and resurrection. So we actually have it better than they did.

Job went through horrendous suffering without having the written word of God and he was still able to say, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:20, 21).

So what can we learn from the Old Testament? First, we must appreciate that the Old Testament narratives are stories with real people going through real struggles, just like us. Their lives were filled with difficulties and daily challenges that resulted in daily hardship. Not only that, they didn’t have the modern conveniences that we have today. They didn’t have running water and grocery stores or cars and computers with internet. We have these things going for us.

We also have the inspired Word of God in our hands. Many of us have multiple copies of God’s Word. We have the words of God in a written form that we can read and memorize and meditate on. Do we see this as one of our most valuable treasures or do we take it for granted? The God of the universe wanted to make sure that we had His Words so we could read them and live by them. What a special treasure that is for us today.

In this magnificent Word of God we have multiple examples on how to live. We have encouragement from these saints. When you begin to talk to someone that has gone through a similar life struggle as you, doesn’t it provide encouragement to know that they have been through what you are going through and they have made it through to the other side? We have this same scenario in God’s Word.

So when you struggle, go to God’s Word. See how the narrative plays out and see what they chose to do in the midst of the trial. They didn’t have something you don’t have, you actually have something they don’t have.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1, 2)

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