I was particularly struck today by the following verses which are
Isaiah 32:6-7:
“Therefore, my people, though you are such wicked rebels, come and return to the Lord. I know the glorious day will come when every one of you will throw away the gold idols and silver images that your sinful hands have made.” (NLT)
And in these times I would add “purchased” since we do not “make” things with our hands much any more.
It is encouraging to note that despite our wickedness we can return to the Lord…if we give up our “idols.”
I submit that it is difficult in this day and age…and possibly any day and age… for people to put God first in our lives and give up idols. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I put lots of things ahead of God for the majority of my life. And, I call them idols. I put education ahead of God, a car, my family, my job, music, on and on. Without any kind of deep searching in my life, I know that I put those things ahead of God.
Yes, I thought about God and read the Bible off and on. But God was not first in my life. God was not an every day presence that I felt and was certain was with me. I did not think of God the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. If you would have asked me whether God was with me, I would have said He was. But I didn’t know for certain. And I was afraid to say no.
I think many of us find ourselves in the same position that I had been in…and in a way they don’t know how to get out of it. They may recognize that they do not put God first in their lives, but they do not recognize the “idols they have made.” We are very creative at creating “idols” for ourselves.
Have you ever heard a collector of anything…be it cars, furniture, lamps, irons, political badges, stamps, coins, matchbooks etc…talk about his/her collection? He/she speaks with a joy and a passion for that collection as if it were the greatest thing which ever existed… be it ever so meaningless to someone else.
How often have you heard people talk about God with the same passion and joy…and do it consistently? When was the last time you talked about God to someone in a grocery store? I know that sounds weird, but it is one of my favorite places to speak about God one on one with somebody I do not know. I have discovered that is called witnessing which I never thought I could or would do.
And, no, I don’t do that nearly often enough. However, changes have come into my life. I will be forever grateful.
Christmas 2003 the people of our church gave me some Christmas presents. They were given to those of us who are shut in, semi-shut in, or have nobody else from whom to receive a present. That year one of the gifts was a daily calendar…the kind that you tear off the date to go to the next one. There were Bible verses each day, and if a person read every day all year, he/she would read the Bible in a year. I decided to do that.
What a joy! I was so surprised. I thought it would be a struggle in disciple, but it turned out that I looked forward reading the Bible each morning. Therefore, I continue reading the Bible each year. It is remarkable what I find one year that I totally overlooked the year before.
Not too long after that after that I met Pastor Nick Connolly who had a forum based on The Bible Through the Seasons, I joined that as well. Through his generosity I have the book, The Bible Through the Seasons which he also wrote.
About one year prior to this, I began working on the church website. And I type the weekly scripture. In other words, I am now surrounded by scripture. That has made a big difference in my life.
In other words idols are diminishing, and God is coming into my life more and more. Is God at the top of my list? Yes, He is. Do I behave like He is at the top of my list? Once in awhile I do so. In fact, when I write something of this nature, you can be certain that God is at the top of my list…at least for the moment…or I wouldn’t write. What a joy!!
Carol
