Idolatry: trusting people, possessions or positions to do for me what only God can do.
~Bill Gothard
If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.
~Luke 14:26
Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
~1 Peter 2:11-12
This one is a tough one.
Are families important? Vital.
Are jobs important. Yeah.
Are romances important? Oh yeah.
What about my spouse? Crucial. A shadow of your relationship to Him.
So, what’s up here?
We are involved in the biggest and best thing ever, this Divine Romance. This Lover of our souls is rightfully jealous. He has poured Himself out in Great Love, simply to Love us. He both died and does Live for the purpose of showing this Love. And this Love is so great, that He would Love us all the same way, even if none of us had ever turned back to Him.
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
~ 1John 4:10
Beloved, G_d does not want to be number one on our list. He does not want there to be a list at all. He wants to be our all-in-all. Everything else must flow FROM our relationship to Him. And without this mindset, we fall into the deadly sin of idolatry.
Get this: Anything that is even a little bit more important than our relationship with G_d is a show-stopper. Families, jobs, romances, and even our spouses and children must be – in comparison to Him – hated, for the relationship to work properly.
Fear not! He is a wonderful obsession. He knows that all these other things are important to our existence. He knows we need human relationship, we need jobs, we need stuff. He knows and He cares. There is here, though, something VITAL to remember. He cares about these things for us MORE than we care about them. So, it only makes sense to pour all our attention into getting to know Him. He is wonderful beyond compare, and He wants to make our lives abundantly wonderful!
So, let’s forget Santa Claus. G_d is way more than that. He doesn’t even require that we be good. HE will even give us that. So further, are we not surprised that we grieve this beautiful Lover when we come to Him and say something like: “Oh L_RD, i just really love that house, can i have it?” “Oh Jesus, i just saw this beautiful woman, could you make her my bride?” “Dear G_d, i know you want to bless me, can you please give me children?”
To ask for these things (this way) is to seriously miss the point. He is MOST SURELY wanting to pour out blessings like these into our lives. However, He (this Awesome G_d) is the One who both knows what and when are the best ways and times to pour out these blessings. And too, in asking as above, we miss the point that He Himself is ever the treasure and relationship we seek.
“Open up the sky and pour down like rain.
We don’t want blessings, we want You.
Open up the sky and fall down like fire.
We don’t want anything but You.”
~ Contemporary Worship Song
