14 Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.
I ain't much of a Bible scholar, but one of the small tricks I do know is that when you see the word "therefore" that means make sure you look at what you just read because that was the cause and now here comes the effect.
If you didn't read yesterday's post, I highly encourage you to do so because they all build on one another. But the gist of yesterday was this:
-even the Israelites who witnessed God's miracles for them fell into temptation;
-they thought they could control everything and that God would serve them;
-the result was that thousands of them were left dead in the desert (God's doing);
-but God is not out to slay us -- in fact, the last verse reminds us that He ALWAYS gives us a way out of our temptation, but we must run to it!
That word run is exactly what I want to focus on today. There is just one command there in verse 14: flee from idolatry. I can't imagine that the Israelites ever verbally said, "well, God should serve us!" No! I'm quite certain, because I know myself, that it was all an attitude of their hearts and in their thoughts. And that's where idols live -- in our hearts.
When people reduce God to something they can use or control, it's an idol, including if their "god" is the control and use of money, power, prestige, beauty, or another human being. It's a sneaky, slippery slope.
It's no secret, if you know me well, that Josh and I have had a series of financial surprises in our first four years of marriage: lost jobs, no housing, major car repairs, debt collectors calling, and the like. I know many people who have had these experiences in recent years. But needless to say, we were not really in control of our finances for a long time, and just when we thought we finally had it all under control, one of us would find that our contract wasn't being renewed, or the car stopped working, etc. We tried so hard to be in control of our money, and it seemed as if it would never happen. We thought, well, once we have money in the bank and two steady jobs, we'll be fine. It became a god to us.
We thought about it all the time. We cried over it when it was taken from us. We were brutal with each other some nights when the pressure to make ends meet literally "got the best of us" all day, and then nothing was left for each other. It didn't help that I teach in the wealthiest elementary school boundaries in the state...I felt like a pauper compared to these people! We were consumed, and because money had most of our attention and thoughts, it had become a god to us. Our individual relationships with God and then with each other began to suffer -- no one can serve two masters.
Then, we finally got some money. Things began to pan out and fall into place, but unlike we thought, everything wasn't automatically better, and the temptation to allow money to control us was still there. It IS still here. Money and I do battle every day...he wants to control me and I want to be controlled only by God. So, many times, I must flee.
Flee means 'to run away from dangers or pursuers, to move swiftly.' There is a danger with our idols. They take us down a steep slope to no where, promising they will fulfill us but never doing it. So we go deeper, thinking the pot of gold is still just around the corner -- but its a mirage. And pursuer? Oh yes, there is a pursuer. His name is satan, and he uses our idols to direct as much of our attention and affection away from Jesus as he can.
We must flee from that! Sometimes we must flee physically, if it's a physical temptation (sex, drugs, stealing), and other times it's fleeing from a thought (that if I could just have ____, it would all be better). Both are equally important, and the only safe place to run during pursuit, is to Jesus and to His Word. If the Israelites had done that, their spiritual lives with God would have been renewed, and perhaps they wouldn't have lost their physical lives, too. Idols will do that to us -- they kill the very parts that God is working to grow in us.
Find some Scripture that applies to your temptations, and place them wherever you are during the day: work, home, in the car. Say these verses to yourself until they sink in, and ask Jesus to give you the Truth you need in that moment, because the temptations are all lies.
Above all, we must flee. We must make the choice in the moment of weakness. But He will ALWAYS provide a way out! God never leaves us alone in our temptations. But we must choose it.
For if we don't, we die.
No comments:
Post a Comment