Is It Worth It?
September 26, 2010 at 11:23 PM Leave a comment
If you read my previous article, you may have given some thought to how your time is allocated. Hopefully, you gave some thought to how much of your time you spend seeking, getting better acquainted with and serving God. If you discovered or realized that God gets very little of your time, did you take steps to change that?
In the Old Testament, references to idol worship, idol gods, and idolatry was very common. Idol gods were anything that you gave love and adoration to. It also represented anything that you give more priority or preeminence to, more than God.
God said, “that He is a jealous God”.
Exd 20:1 And God spake all these words, saying,
Exd 20:2 I [am] the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Exd 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exd 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth:
Exd 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me;
Exd 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
This speaks to His love relationship with us. Just as it is with a spouse, you do not want nor will you tolerate your spouse being intimate in any form or fashion with another lover. So when we give or share the love that only belongs to God with any other person, place or thing, we are committing idolatry.
It is acceptable to have relationships with people other than your spouse and to use and enjoy things. But only your spouse is worthy of an intimate sexual love relationship with you. Even your spouse is not worthy of the intimate worship status of love and adoration that only belongs to God. Nothing, I repeat, nothing should be more important, valuable, or worthy of the honor, praise and adoration that God alone is worthy of. When we demonstrate by how we allocate our time and resources that God is not priority, preeminent and most valued, it is like giving the best of your resources and love to an unworthy illicit lover.
So ask yourself,
- Are my priorities truly in the right order, not by what I say, but by how I have allocated my resources, love and attention?
- The things I give my time, money and attention to, do they add real value to my life?
- If there are things in my life that are keeping me from spending quality and quantitative time with my Heavenly Father and keeping me from being true to Him, is it worth the sacrifice?
- Is what I am gaining in sacrificing my time to idol gods worth more than what I am losing by shortchanging and being less than true to my God?
God sent His only begotten Son into the world to die for our sins that we may be saved from destruction and that we can live eternally. He has declared that we have been bought with the blood of Jesus and we are not our own, but we belong to God and all that we do and say is to bring honor, glory and praise to Him with thanksgiving.
We were not saved and ransomed from the jaws of death to serve our own lusts or to serve idol gods, but to serve the true and living God. Having idol gods in your life, things that have taken a priority position in your life or things that you have given your first love to, are causing God to be jealous. This illicit relationship with things is damaging your intimate relationship with God. Idol gods can only make you temporarily feel good. They need you to do everything for them. So why are you serving them? Is it worth it?
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Entry filed under: Article. Tags: Christianity, Deryl S. Lampkin, Egypt, God, Idolatry, Intimate relationship, Jesus, Old Testament, Religion and Spirituality.
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