Idolatry Today

But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who
suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have
seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his
invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse
for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was
like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise,
they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious,
ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people... (Romans 1:18-23, NLT)

So I read this last night, and I connected it to a book I've been reading called "Radical". In "Radical", the author says almost the same thing, but in different words. He says,:

...We are starting to redefine Christianity. We are giving into the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the Bible and twist him into a version of Jesus WE are more comfortable with. A nice, middle class, American Jesus. A Jesus who doesn't mind materialism and who would never call us to give away everything we have. A Jesus who would not expect us to forsake out closest relationships so that he receives all our affection. A Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts, because, after all, he loves us just the way we are. A Jesus who want us to avoid dangerous extremes, and who, for that matter, wants us to avoid danger altogether. A Jesus who brings us comfort and prosperity and we live out our Christian spin on the American Dream. But do you and I realize what we are doing at this point? We are molding Jesus into OUR image. He is beginning to look alot like us because, after all, that is whom we are most comfortable with. And the danger now is that when we gather in out church building to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshipping Jesus. We may be worshipping OURSELVES. (David Platt, "Radical", pg. 13)

I connected those two statements. And felt a bit convicted. Both of them are talking about idolatry. In Romans, it says bluntly "They KNOW God, but wouldn't worship him AS God", and instead, they began to "think up foolish ideas of what God was like". And in Radical, he's talking about how we change the image of Jesus. I'll explain this more.

A few paragraphs before, David Platt was talking about all the things costs of following Jesus that Jesus himself said in Luke 9:57-62. One man said "I'll follow you Jesus!" And Jesus said "Foxes have dens, birds have nests, but the Son of man has no place to lay his head." In other words, shelter isn't garunteed. You might be left out in the cold or have no where to go because you follow Jesus. Yikes. Then another guy says "hey, Jesus-I'll follow you. But let me bury my dad who just passed away." And Jesus says, "Let the dead bury their own dead. You rjob is to preach the Kingdom of God." In other words, put me first, and don't even let the burial of your own father get in the way of your relationship with me. Whoa. Then another guy says "Jesus! I'll follow you-gimme a second, though. I'm gonna go say bye to my family." And Jesus says "Anyone who put his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the Kingdom." In other words, forget your family and closest relationships. FOLLOW ME. I'm all you need. Dang. And what about the rich man in Luke 18:18-23? He came up and was like "Jesus, how to I get eternal life?" And Jesus is like "Well, you know, the commandments." And the rich man says "But I already do that." Jesus then says "Oh yeah, one more thing-sell everything you have and give it to the poor. Come follow me." There is not "in other words" to that. Blunt, straight, and to the point. Give up everything you have. Follow me. Wow.

What David Platt is saying is that we don't WANT to accept the possibility that God might call us to do something like that. We don't like the thought that Jesus might say "Give up all your material things. Follow me." or "Forget your family and friends. Follow me." or "Leave your home. Follow me." or even possibily "Don't attend your own father's burial. Follow me." We're uncomfortable with that. So we say "No, Jesus wouldn't want me to give up those things. He loves me." But in reality, we're conforming to idolatry when we do that. Because we're NOT truly following Jesus and worshipping him for who he is. We're doing exactly what Romans was talking about. "thinking up foolish ideas of what God is like". Our OWN foolish ideas.

I read these two things and was a bit convicted. I had to look at myself and say "Have I done that? Have I worshipped my OWN idea of Jesus? Would I give up those things to follow Jesus?" It takes a heart re-arrange to change the way you look at Jesus. I know I'll be working on mine.

What about you?

When you Hold on to stuff, and that stuff holds you back, it makes it hard to get to Jesus.

A little boy in my kids church, when asked to share about the church-camp trip he had just attended, stood up infront of the entire adult congregation and boldly said this. He’s probably less that 12 years old. I could not believe it. Believe his age. Hid boldness. And the amount of truth in that statement.
“When you hold on to stuff, and that stuff holds you back, it makes it hard to get to Jesus.”
I later approached that little boy and hugged him and said ‘Bill! I’m so proud of you-everything that you said up there!” His response shocked me.
“I wanted to say more, but my mind just went blank. I wanted to talk about when we went on that hike, and they told us when we got to the top of the mountain, to tell something that holds us back-something we never told anybody. I wanted to talk about how we were so high up there, you could just feel the presence of God. And when all these men shared secrets nobody knew,-man, the wind picked up, and you could just feel…God.”
The same day, we took up offering in kids church, and as usual, I asked if anyone wanted to pray over it. All the kids were quiet (as usual). I looked at little Bill and said, “Bill, would you like to pray?” (Just two weeks before, I asked him the same question, and he said “Nah, I don’t like praying.”) This time, he looked in my eyes, and with a genuine look said,
“I don’t know how to pray over offering, but I will.”
I said, “Well, just tell God thank you for the offering, and pray that He will bless it. And just say thanks for letting us learn about Him. Just pray whatever you feel, Bill.” He said "Okay." I bowed my head, prepared to pray, when I noticed something that amazed me.
Little Bill had knelt down on his knees in front of everyone and said "Uhh...God...thank you for this offering. Please bless it. Thank you for the kids church and that we can come to learn. Thank you for the camping trip we just went on. Thanks for everything. Love you. Amen."
Little Bill got up off of his knees, and went back to his seat. I sat in awe at this child. In jusst two days, his life had changed completely. And God spoke something to me.
"This is what I mean when I tell you-Have child-like faith."