“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”
1 John 5:21 ESV
Oooo… a red Tesla. It would be nice to have a Tesla. I want it.
Wait I don’t need a Red Tesla! Nor do I really want it!
Immediately I realized what my mind was doing….I was striving after something and it was making me jealous…..and “The Speculator” returned.1
Not that there is anything wrong with wanting something, and working hard to get it. There isn’t.
There is something wrong with putting something else in your heart before Jesus.
This may in fact influence what you want… I pray it does. I love Jesus.
If you can’t tell just about everything makes me think of Jesus… He is the reason I’m alive after all…
In the book of 1 John the author ends his letter with a rather abrupt statement.
Dear children, Keep Yourself from idols.
Some scholars wonder if John meant to write more… it seems like a funny thing to end a letter with.
However I don’t think so… I just think John was more in love with Jesus then I am… immediately before this purportedly odd statement comes this:
“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true One. We are in the true One — that is, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”
1 John 5:20 HCSB
Immediately afterwards he says: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”
1 John 5:21 ESV
It’s a contrast game…
Over here: JESUS!…………..Over there: Idols
Idols (a.k.a. anything and everything that would take you from Jesus)
Susanna Wesley was the mother of John Wesley, famous revivalist in the 1800s England.
She once wrote this about sin:
“Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of the body over the mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in itself.”
Susanna Wesley
You see…. We were made to worship… put another way… we were made to TAKE GREAT DELIGHT in God. Idols are things that take our delight from God.
If our great delight is not God… it will tend to be something else.
I’m putting that too mildly. It will be something else. I don’t think I’ve ever met a human that’s not obsessed with something. Some people conceal their obsessions better than others. These obsessions are very real
Their spouse, their car, their kids, etc.
That’s not fair… you might be thinking… and I would and have felt very much the same. The truth however is that only one thing can sustain being your obsession. Only one thing won’t disappoint. Only one thing can bear up under the pressure. Only one person is up to the challenge: Jesus.
I’m still learning to be obsessed with Jesus. Slowly, but surely: all of my other obsessions are falling in line behind him.
There was a time where I had an obsession with my own knowledge…this obsession caused me to often doubt God and His goodness.
I loved Jesus… but there were times that my desire to have it all together knowledge-wise would propel me into times of Deep doubt.
That was until Jesus showed me it was an idol…. When I realized it was an idol I became sad… up until that point I had no clue….This happened over a series of months… this trend… the connection between my own love of knowledge… being seen as knowledgeable and the deep doubt were inseparable….It really cut into my relationship with Him.
By the grace of God I asked that He make me dumb…. If love of my own knowledge was going to keep me from Him… I wanted to be dumb….
The power of the idol broke that day…. It has only come back in force one time. I still doubt on occasion…. But the deep doubt is gone.
I titled this post defying materialism… mostly because this post was inspired by my misplaced desire for a nice car.
Materialism can be defined as: a tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values.
As an American… or just as a human being in general: it’s a good place to start when considering idolatry in your own life… my own life.
Do my possessions own me?
There are wealthy people in the Bible. Wealth (on its own) isn’t the problem… it’s how you use your wealth and how you love your money.
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.”
1 Timothy 6:10 HCSB
Someone will rightly point out here that the wealthy would do so much good with their wealth if they would just give it away.
I happen to agree with them. However, I’m not interested in categorically judging a group of people simply because of what they own……There are people in the world who give very generously out of their well stewarded money. Some are in fact called to have it so they can support others.
There are those who just love money….This is VERY dangerous.
Also, you can suffer from the love of money if you don’t actually have money… it can still take your heart from Jesus.
It’s all about your heart posture. If your heart posture is right… it will have an impact on your actions and on your joy.
There was once a very rich man that came to Jesus and asked what he needed to do to have eternal life…. After briefly talking together about loving God through obedience… Jesus says this:
“You still lack one thing: Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” After he heard this, he became extremely sad, because he was very rich. Seeing that he became sad, Jesus said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.””
Luke 18:22-25 HCSB
Jesus notes to him… and to us… that material wealth can be a massive idol that can keep us from God.
So what do we do with this? It’s difficult… but simple…. It can only truly be done with God’s help: “What is impossible with men is possible with God.””
Luke 18:27 HCSB
May you seek HIM first … whether you have or don’t have. Listen to Him…. Obey Him. If he asks you to give everything… give everything. If He asks you to move across the world to share the gospel… Do it!
He is the Pearl of Great Price. He is the beautiful one. If anything gets in His way… May you release it,if only spiritually, into His hands… so that you may gain Him! He is worth it!
One thing I have asked of HIM.
It is what I desire.
To dwell in HIS house all the days of my life.
Gazing on HIS beauty and seeking HIM in His house. (A paraphrase of Psalm 27:4)
Footnotes
1. “What are you good at?” (Prior post) I really identify with an author named G.K. Chesterton who once identified himself as “a person only too ready to write books upon the feeblest provocation.”
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