Well normally this blog is used to share pictures of what’s going on in Kirsten’s and my life, and I hope to be able to continue to do that as well, but it struck me this morning that I have thoughts sometimes I’d like to write down to share with people. I’m going to do my best to start posting interesting thoughts, or what not, to this blog and hope that all of you reading it (if anyone is) will feel welcome to comment or share your insight as well.
Kirsten and I have been discussing the idea that sometimes hopes and dreams can become idols in your life. So what does God have to say about it?
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor 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. Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them, for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God…” Exodus 20:3-5
So the questions then become, what is an idol or god? And how do we set those before God? If you take the passage for it’s literal sense and look at the word “gods” they are considered an object that we worship or place our faith in as rulers, judges, divine ones, angles and false gods. If we take the next step in the rest of the passage does this mean that a god can be something that distracts us from our God? If he says that we should not put our faith in anything else except for Him, and He is a jealous God then I interpret that to mean that anything that takes precedence in our lives over Him or anything that distracts us from fully following him could be considered a god or idol.
How often in life do we allow those things that are our hopes and dreams to come before God? I know for myself that there have been a few recent ideas that I have become so consumed with that I have, for all intents and purposes, placed the hopes of these ideas ahead of trusting God to be in charge of those ideas. It’s a very fine line in my opinion. God say’s in Mark 11:24 that whatever we desire we should pray and believe that we will get them and we shall have them. The fine line I believe is that the focus of those desires should be on expecting God to work in that situation.
So often we, or should I say I, get so impatient that we start desiring those things and ideas, suddenly it becomes about what we want and not what God has planned or what God’s desires are for us. In our church we have been discussing many different topics in relation to how we should do things such as being the church, serving, and prayer. The main thing that we keep coming back to is that so often it’s the not the actions that determine whether a certain thing is good or not, it’s the motive and heart behind those actions that determine whether the action is God honoring or not.
I don’t think that it is wrong for us to have hopes and dreams, I certainly hope not. I think were I go wrong is when I start letting all my thoughts focus on those hopes and dreams instead of focusing on seeing God in the situation. I go wrong when I start idolizing those hopes and ideas before seeking God’s counsel and grace in them. The struggle that I have before me is not going to be easy, we are selfish beings, us humans… and most of us don’t like not being in control. But if am to truly be a God honoring man, and a spiritual leader in my family, I must humble myself before the God of gods and turn every home and desire over to him in prayer and believe that he is going to provide what I need. It’s not an easy road, and not one to be taken lightly but He never said the burden was going to be light.
