GOD REMAINS GOD WITHOUT YOU OR ME!
IDENTIFYING AND DEALING WITH THE IDOLS OF OUR HEARTS.(EZE14:1-8) [PART TWO]
Welcome back !
We stopped at our dire need to recognize the serious consequences (God’s silence, judgment) when we have idols in our hearts. And what happens when a person has an idol in his/her heart? We said even though you try to seek God, pray, and inquire of Him. He may not answer you!(Eze.14:3)
Basically,here are some things which INDISPUTABLY belong to GOD: RESPECT, LOVE, CONFIDENCE, REVERENCE, and SERVICE.
It’s not that we should give no honour, love, etc, to anyone other than God, but that we should not love or serve anyone or anything too much, i.e, MORE THAN GOD.
When we veer away from giving God these things, we are in effect committing idolatry in our hearts.
We have learnt that if we persist in having idols in our hearts,God is certain to tell us; "What right do we have to seek Him or inquire of Him?(Paraphrase,mine.)
He may then speak to us by his silence. And during that time,we are prone to maybe ask, "Where is God? Why does He feel so far away? Where is His Power and Glory in my life?"
It isn't like as if,every time that God is silent,it means we’ve sinned against Him...No! It's just that, when we noticed that God is silent, perhaps we need to examine ourselves, and search ourselves for whether we may have an idol in our life.
Thus, the first thing we need to do in dealing with idols of the heart is to recognize the reality of idols of our hearts,and its grave consequences. So,how then do we recognize an idol of the heart?
Let's consider some ways of knowing;
When I’m alone, what do I enjoy daydreaming about? What occupies my mind when I have nothing else to think about? (Eg career advancement? Material goods? A relationship?)
Where do I spend my money? (Clothes? Food? Cars? Homes?) Christ Jesus says, *Where your treasure is, there is your heart also* (Matthew 6:21)
How do I respond to unanswered prayers and frustrated hopes? When you pray and work for something and you don’t get it and you respond with explosive anger or deep despair, then you may have found your real god.
Look at your most uncontrollable emotions (anger, fear, despair, guilt). If you feel that you MUST have something at all costs, you will feel anger if you can’t get it, fear/despair if you lose it. This something has become an idol.
Now, it's time to seek out and remove and replace the idols of our hearts;
Thankfully, God is a gracious God, and He desires us to restore our relationship with Him through repentance. He doesn’t want us to remain in sin, or remain in a relationship marked by His silence and judgment upon us. We see God’s desire for our repentance in Ezekiel 14:4-6,
I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols. Therefore say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!’
Notice that God’s silence and refusal to answer those who have idols in their hearts is for their good. He does this so that He will “recapture their hearts.” (v5) He wants you to know the seriousness of the sin of idolatry... and He wants you to repent. Repent means you turn away from sin/idols and turn back to God.
However, removal of an idol isn’t enough...we need to remove and then replace them. Why?
It should be desperately important for us to realize that idols cannot simply be removed. They must be replaced. If you only try to uproot them, they grow back; but they can be supplanted. By what? By God Himself, of course. But by God we do not mean a general belief in His Existence. Most of us have that, yet our souls are riddled with idols. What we need is a living encounter with God.
Besides repentance (turning away from idols) we need to turn to something greater... something that can fully satisfy our deepest longings...and that is Christ Jesus.
Only Christ Jesus. We remove our idols, and replace that vacuum with Christ Jesus alone. If you uproot the idol and fail to *plant* the love of Christ Jesus in its place, the idol will grow back.
Christ Jesus must be everything to you! As Paul says in Col.3:1-4.
We are to *SET OUR HEARTS AND MINDS ON THINGS ABOVE* WHERE *OUR LIVES ARE NOW HIDDEN WITH CHRIST IN GOD.*(highlights mine)
That means we are to appreciate, rejoice, and rest in who Christ Jesus is and what Christ Jesus has done for us through His Life, Death and Resurrection.
See Christ Jesus for Who He is(Son of God),what He has done...His life, His Substitutionary Death on the Cross for our sins, His Sacrificial Love, His Forgiveness, Grace, His Resurrection, and the Hope of Eternal Life. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ...Who He is and what He has done for us. Only Christ Jesus and the Salvation we have in Him can replace the idols in our lives.
We have to deepen our understanding of the Salvation of Christ Jesus, what we have in Him, and then living out the changes that that understanding makes in our hearts...the seat of our mind, will, and emotions.
Indeed, the living God, who revealed Himself both at Mount Sinai and on the Cross, is the only Lord who, if we find Him, can truly fulfill us, and, if we fail Him, can truly forgive us.
Conclusively,God, in His Mercy and Grace may be surfacing some idols in your heart and mine.
Many idols are good things... family,jobs, relationships,food, fitness exercises to look healthy (eg, women mentally obsessed with the idea of a perfect shape)etc, BUT,they become bad when we elevate them to a POSITION RESERVED FOR GOD ALONE. Good things can become an idol when we attach our meaning, significance and security, safety and fulfillment to these things, instead of God.
They harm our intimacy with God, and may result in painful experiences of God’s silence and judgment.
But God in His Grace, gives us a solution...He asks that we repent. To remove these idols, and turn back to Him...to replace them with the One Thing that truly satisfies. The Gospel of Christ Jesus and His love for us. See Who He is and what He has done for us.
But the decision is in our hands.You know your idols,I know mine...we can accept this rebuke from God in Eze.14:1-8 and give them up or continue in them. It's an individual choice. May the Holy Spirit help us to make the right one, Amen!
IDENTIFYING AND DEALING WITH THE IDOLS OF OUR HEARTS.(EZE14:1-8) [PART TWO]
Welcome back !
We stopped at our dire need to recognize the serious consequences (God’s silence, judgment) when we have idols in our hearts. And what happens when a person has an idol in his/her heart? We said even though you try to seek God, pray, and inquire of Him. He may not answer you!(Eze.14:3)
Basically,here are some things which INDISPUTABLY belong to GOD: RESPECT, LOVE, CONFIDENCE, REVERENCE, and SERVICE.
It’s not that we should give no honour, love, etc, to anyone other than God, but that we should not love or serve anyone or anything too much, i.e, MORE THAN GOD.
When we veer away from giving God these things, we are in effect committing idolatry in our hearts.
We have learnt that if we persist in having idols in our hearts,God is certain to tell us; "What right do we have to seek Him or inquire of Him?(Paraphrase,mine.)
He may then speak to us by his silence. And during that time,we are prone to maybe ask, "Where is God? Why does He feel so far away? Where is His Power and Glory in my life?"
It isn't like as if,every time that God is silent,it means we’ve sinned against Him...No! It's just that, when we noticed that God is silent, perhaps we need to examine ourselves, and search ourselves for whether we may have an idol in our life.
Thus, the first thing we need to do in dealing with idols of the heart is to recognize the reality of idols of our hearts,and its grave consequences. So,how then do we recognize an idol of the heart?
Let's consider some ways of knowing;
When I’m alone, what do I enjoy daydreaming about? What occupies my mind when I have nothing else to think about? (Eg career advancement? Material goods? A relationship?)
Where do I spend my money? (Clothes? Food? Cars? Homes?) Christ Jesus says, *Where your treasure is, there is your heart also* (Matthew 6:21)
How do I respond to unanswered prayers and frustrated hopes? When you pray and work for something and you don’t get it and you respond with explosive anger or deep despair, then you may have found your real god.
Look at your most uncontrollable emotions (anger, fear, despair, guilt). If you feel that you MUST have something at all costs, you will feel anger if you can’t get it, fear/despair if you lose it. This something has become an idol.
Now, it's time to seek out and remove and replace the idols of our hearts;
Thankfully, God is a gracious God, and He desires us to restore our relationship with Him through repentance. He doesn’t want us to remain in sin, or remain in a relationship marked by His silence and judgment upon us. We see God’s desire for our repentance in Ezekiel 14:4-6,
I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols. Therefore say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!’
Notice that God’s silence and refusal to answer those who have idols in their hearts is for their good. He does this so that He will “recapture their hearts.” (v5) He wants you to know the seriousness of the sin of idolatry... and He wants you to repent. Repent means you turn away from sin/idols and turn back to God.
However, removal of an idol isn’t enough...we need to remove and then replace them. Why?
It should be desperately important for us to realize that idols cannot simply be removed. They must be replaced. If you only try to uproot them, they grow back; but they can be supplanted. By what? By God Himself, of course. But by God we do not mean a general belief in His Existence. Most of us have that, yet our souls are riddled with idols. What we need is a living encounter with God.
Besides repentance (turning away from idols) we need to turn to something greater... something that can fully satisfy our deepest longings...and that is Christ Jesus.
Only Christ Jesus. We remove our idols, and replace that vacuum with Christ Jesus alone. If you uproot the idol and fail to *plant* the love of Christ Jesus in its place, the idol will grow back.
Christ Jesus must be everything to you! As Paul says in Col.3:1-4.
We are to *SET OUR HEARTS AND MINDS ON THINGS ABOVE* WHERE *OUR LIVES ARE NOW HIDDEN WITH CHRIST IN GOD.*(highlights mine)
That means we are to appreciate, rejoice, and rest in who Christ Jesus is and what Christ Jesus has done for us through His Life, Death and Resurrection.
See Christ Jesus for Who He is(Son of God),what He has done...His life, His Substitutionary Death on the Cross for our sins, His Sacrificial Love, His Forgiveness, Grace, His Resurrection, and the Hope of Eternal Life. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ...Who He is and what He has done for us. Only Christ Jesus and the Salvation we have in Him can replace the idols in our lives.
We have to deepen our understanding of the Salvation of Christ Jesus, what we have in Him, and then living out the changes that that understanding makes in our hearts...the seat of our mind, will, and emotions.
Indeed, the living God, who revealed Himself both at Mount Sinai and on the Cross, is the only Lord who, if we find Him, can truly fulfill us, and, if we fail Him, can truly forgive us.
Conclusively,God, in His Mercy and Grace may be surfacing some idols in your heart and mine.
Many idols are good things... family,jobs, relationships,food, fitness exercises to look healthy (eg, women mentally obsessed with the idea of a perfect shape)etc, BUT,they become bad when we elevate them to a POSITION RESERVED FOR GOD ALONE. Good things can become an idol when we attach our meaning, significance and security, safety and fulfillment to these things, instead of God.
They harm our intimacy with God, and may result in painful experiences of God’s silence and judgment.
But God in His Grace, gives us a solution...He asks that we repent. To remove these idols, and turn back to Him...to replace them with the One Thing that truly satisfies. The Gospel of Christ Jesus and His love for us. See Who He is and what He has done for us.
But the decision is in our hands.You know your idols,I know mine...we can accept this rebuke from God in Eze.14:1-8 and give them up or continue in them. It's an individual choice. May the Holy Spirit help us to make the right one, Amen!
GOD REMAINS GOD WITHOUT YOU OR ME!
ππππππππππππππ
IDENTIFYING AND DEALING WITH THE IDOLS OF OUR HEARTS.(EZE14:1-8) [PART TWO]
ππππππππππππππ
Welcome back π€!
We stopped at our dire need to recognize the serious consequences (God’s silence, judgment) when we have idols in our hearts. And what happens when a person has an idol in his/her heart? We said even though you try to seek God, pray, and inquire of Him. He may not answer you!(Eze.14:3)
Basically,here are some things which INDISPUTABLY belong to GOD: RESPECT, LOVE, CONFIDENCE, REVERENCE, and SERVICE.
It’s not that we should give no honour, love, etc, to anyone other than God, but that we should not love or serve anyone or anything too much, i.e, MORE THAN GOD.
When we veer away from giving God these things, we are in effect committing idolatry in our hearts.
We have learnt that if we persist in having idols in our hearts,God is certain to tell us; "What right do we have to seek Him or inquire of Him?(Paraphrase,mine.)
He may then speak to us by his silence. And during that time,we are prone to maybe ask, "Where is God? Why does He feel so far away? Where is His Power and Glory in my life?"
It isn't like as if,every time that God is silent,it means we’ve sinned against Him...No! It's just that, when we noticed that God is silent, perhaps we need to examine ourselves, and search ourselves for whether we may have an idol in our life.
Thus, the first thing we need to do in dealing with idols of the heart is to recognize the reality of idols of our hearts,and its grave consequences. So,how then do we recognize an idol of the heart?
Let's consider some ways of knowing;
πWhen I’m alone, what do I enjoy daydreaming about? What occupies my mind when I have nothing else to think about? (Eg career advancement? Material goods? A relationship?)
πWhere do I spend my money? (Clothes? Food? Cars? Homes?) Christ Jesus says, *Where your treasure is, there is your heart also* (Matthew 6:21)
πHow do I respond to unanswered prayers and frustrated hopes? When you pray and work for something and you don’t get it and you respond with explosive anger or deep despair, then you may have found your real god.
πLook at your most uncontrollable emotions (anger, fear, despair, guilt). If you feel that you MUST have something at all costs, you will feel anger if you can’t get it, fear/despair if you lose it. This something has become an idol.
π’Now, it's time to seek out and remove and replace the idols of our hearts;
Thankfully, God is a gracious God, and He desires us to restore our relationship with Him through repentance. He doesn’t want us to remain in sin, or remain in a relationship marked by His silence and judgment upon us. We see God’s desire for our repentance in Ezekiel 14:4-6,
I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols. Therefore say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!’
Notice that God’s silence and refusal to answer those who have idols in their hearts is for their good. He does this so that He will “recapture their hearts.” (v5) He wants you to know the seriousness of the sin of idolatry... and He wants you to repent. Repent means you turn away from sin/idols and turn back to God.
However, removal of an idol isn’t enough...we need to remove and then replace them. Why?
It should be desperately important for us to realize that idols cannot simply be removed. They must be replaced. If you only try to uproot them, they grow back; but they can be supplanted. By what? By God Himself, of course. But by God we do not mean a general belief in His Existence. Most of us have that, yet our souls are riddled with idols. What we need is a living encounter with God.
Besides repentance (turning away from idols) we need to turn to something greater... something that can fully satisfy our deepest longings...and that is Christ Jesus.
Only Christ Jesus. We remove our idols, and replace that vacuum with Christ Jesus alone. If you uproot the idol and fail to *plant* the love of Christ Jesus in its place, the idol will grow back.
Christ Jesus must be everything to you! As Paul says in Col.3:1-4.
We are to *SET OUR HEARTS AND MINDS ON THINGS ABOVE* WHERE *OUR LIVES ARE NOW HIDDEN WITH CHRIST IN GOD.*(highlights mine)
That means we are to appreciate, rejoice, and rest in who Christ Jesus is and what Christ Jesus has done for us through His Life, Death and Resurrection.
See Christ Jesus for Who He is(Son of God),what He has done...His life, His Substitutionary Death on the Cross for our sins, His Sacrificial Love, His Forgiveness, Grace, His Resurrection, and the Hope of Eternal Life. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ...Who He is and what He has done for us. Only Christ Jesus and the Salvation we have in Him can replace the idols in our lives.
We have to deepen our understanding of the Salvation of Christ Jesus, what we have in Him, and then living out the changes that that understanding makes in our hearts...the seat of our mind, will, and emotions.
Indeed, the living God, who revealed Himself both at Mount Sinai and on the Cross, is the only Lord who, if we find Him, can truly fulfill us, and, if we fail Him, can truly forgive us.
π’ Conclusively,God, in His Mercy and Grace may be surfacing some idols in your heart and mine.
Many idols are good things... family,jobs, relationships,food, fitness exercises to look healthy (eg, women mentally obsessed with the idea of a perfect shape)etc, BUT,they become bad when we elevate them to a POSITION RESERVED FOR GOD ALONE. Good things can become an idol when we attach our meaning, significance and security, safety and fulfillment to these things, instead of God.
They harm our intimacy with God, and may result in painful experiences of God’s silence and judgment.
But God in His Grace, gives us a solution...He asks that we repent. To remove these idols, and turn back to Him...to replace them with the One Thing that truly satisfies. The Gospel of Christ Jesus and His love for us. See Who He is and what He has done for us.
But the decision is in our hands.You know your idols,I know mine...we can accept this rebuke from God in Eze.14:1-8 and give them up or continue in them. It's an individual choice. May the Holy Spirit help us to make the right one, Amenππ!
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