False gods

False teeth.  False eyelashes.  False...you get the idea.  What do they all have in common?  The most simple answer is that they aren't real.  What about false advertising?  Why do we get so riled up when we watch commercials that promise something, you know couldn't possibly be true?  There are laws against that sort of thing, right?  How do they get away with it?  They get away with it because there is just enough truth in what they are offering, that it isn't really false.  It isn't really true either.

Nobody likes to be lied to or deceived.  We would like to believe that we wouldn't fall for that sort of thing in the first place, right?  But, don't we deceive ourselves every day?  The things that we turn to, coffee, snacks,energy drinks, cigarettes, alcohol, new clothes, new car, are all intended to give us something we think we need.  But, are they for real?  Do they actually meet a need?

We are told not to love the things of this world or the things in this world, "For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world (I John 2:15-16)."  In other words, they aren't real.  It is just false advertising.

The problem with the things of this world is they sometimes take a place that is intended for God to occupy, a place in your heart that is meant for Him and Him alone.  We become attached to these things and rely on them for something that can only come from the Father.  As in most relationships, if we allow something else to take away our attention, our energies, our affections, then our relationship will suffer.  God wants our love.  He wants to be first in our lives.  For real.  In order for that to take place, we may have to let go of our other attachments, the things of this world that we love, to create space in our hearts for this to  occur.

"No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other; or, he will be devoted to the one and despise the other (Matt. 6:24)."  God's love is the real thing.

Godspeed, Phil
 

Irrevocable

"Nothing that a man owns and devotes to the Lord...may be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the Lord (Lev. 27:28)."

A footnote at the bottom of my Bible notes, "The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord."  In other words, there are no take-backs.  Once you have given something to the Lord, it belongs to Him.

Has it ever occurred to you that when you do your devotions, you are irrevocably giving yourself over to the Lord?  I don't think that is typically what comes to mind.  I sometimes think we are more devoted to our favorite sports team, to our work, or to our spouses, than we are to the Lord.  I recall in my younger days, Olivia Newton-John singing a song with the lyrics, "hopelessly devoted to you."  That may be what you wrote on that Valentine's Day card you gave your wife, but is that the song in your heart when you spend your quiet time with the Lord?  Is that the level of commitment that you intend when you give Him the day and pray for His will to be done?

The motivation for doing so is that whatever we devote to the Lord becomes holy.  While in our hands, it had some purpose, upon giving it to the Lord it took on a greater significance.  It is now useful for His purpose.  It can be used for the furthering of His Kingdom.  It has become sanctified, made holy.

What is it that you are praying for?  If you are praying for yourself, then the Holy Spirit sanctifies you, and makes you holy before the Lord.  If you pray for your wife, Paul says that she is sanctified by your prayers (I Cor. 7:24).  Your children, too, are sanctified, made holy and useful for God's purpose, when you give them over to Him.

However, the greater challenge is not to want to take back what we have committed to the Lord.  It is tempting to do so.  We don't always agree with the way the Lord is managing those areas or those things that we have given to Him.  We cannot give to the Lord and have an agenda.  When we give, that devoted thing or area of our life is now irrevocably His and we must trust that He will make the best use of it.

Godspeed, Phil

Purge!

One thing I have been convicted of recently, and for some time now, is the need to purge.  No, I am not bulimic, though some might question that when they see me eat.  I do love to eat.  God has been trying to get my attention to let me know there are some things yet in my life, that He did not put there, and they are in the way of what He is trying to accomplish.  These are things that He wants me to purge from my life, thereby creating space for Him to do more through me.

I have been pretty stubborn about the whole thing, kind of like Saul who was "unwilling to completely destroy" some of the "good" things taken from the Amalekites, as he had been directed to by God (I Sm. 12:20-22).  I have argued the same way with God.  The things that He has been wanting me to let go were things that had some value, at least to me.

I have counseled a few hoarders, people whose homes and lives have become so cluttered, their homes are no longer safe places for them to live.  The difficulty, for them, is that everything they have hoarded has some value.  They are difficult to help because their way of valuing things is unlike anyone else's; so that, when others try to get them to remove things from their homes, they can't agree on what to get rid of first.

We, too, are at risk in terms of our spiritual lives by our own hoarding, by hanging onto things that may have some value to us, but, interfere with the plan God has for us and our ministries.  Using the opportunity provided by the season of Lent, Ruth Haley Barton challenges us on her website, to return to God with all our hearts.  She cites the example of Christ who was tempted in the wilderness to "trust in that which is not God for security and survival, affirmation and approval, power and control."

Typically, when we are hanging onto something that is not of God, it is because it appears to us to have some value.  However, if God is saying to let it go, it is time to let it go!

Godspeed, Phil