I tried to write this devotional last week, but for some reason
the words just wouldn’t come. Each time
I attempted to write it, I just felt like I was hitting a wall.
I think I now know why.
With the horrific events happening in our world these past days, the
Lord has now brought to my mind those thoughts I began to have a couple weeks
ago and has laid on my heart what I am to share.
I don’t think anyone would argue with me the fact that our world
is in utter chaos. It seems like
everywhere we look, things are falling apart.
It doesn’t matter whether you are a Democrat or a Republican…I’m
confident that you realize that Satan is having a heyday and is unleashing
turmoil throughout our country and in many other countries. We are seeing like never before, our
Christian foundation being torn to shreds.
It is so easy to feel completely helpless in times such as
this. Sin seems to be whirling all
around us and so much of what is happening is totally out of our control. People who have chosen to follow the evil one
are making decisions that are affecting what we face on a day-to-day basis,
even putting our safety and lives in jeopardy.
What then are we supposed to do?
If so much of what is going on is out of our control, what can we do
then to get through each day?
We are currently studying “Gods at War’” by Kyle Idleman in our
Connection group from church. He
challenges us with the thought that maybe all sin springs from the same source
– IDOLATRY. He says that while we may
not see many “graven images” in our world today, there are still countless gods
passionately at war for the throne of our heart. If we put the wrong god on the throne, our
lives will be thrown into chaos and all our efforts of managing sin will be
futile. Kyle shares that only by
recognizing our misplaced worship and by enthroning Jesus can we experience
true freedom and life.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that those who are
wreaking such havoc and destruction in our world have made the choice to put
the wrong god on the throne of their heart.
As a result, their lives are a vessel that is being used by Satan to
destroy everyone in their path.
But if we are going to point out the gods that are on the throne
of others, we must also ask what gods are on our throne. Where is our focus? What or who do we hold most dear to our
heart? Idleman asks us to spend time
looking inward. Is the god of money on
our throne? The god of love? The god of pleasure? The god of power?
Any god that is on our throne, other than the one true God, will
eventually lead us into chaos. We will
never have any peace, regardless of our surroundings, if we ourselves don’t
have God on the throne of our life. He
must be our sole focus and nothing else dares get in the way of serving Him
with everything that we have.
A man who had put food on the throne of his life made a
statement on one of the videos from our study and it really spoke to me. He stated that he eventually learned that he
needed to give up the imitation (food) so that God could give him the real
thing. What a powerful statement. Anything that we focus on other than God is just
a cheap imitation. God is just waiting
for us to give up all those worthless, artificial idols in our life so that He
can be the only one on our throne and He can bless us with the real thing.
Unfortunately, I believe that many settle for the imitation,
because they don’t know what they are missing.
I used to use imitation vanilla in my cooking. Then I was given a bottle of real, pure
vanilla and once I had used that, there was no way I was going to return to the
fake stuff. Yes it cost more, but the
benefit far outweighed the cost. The
real thing had so much more flavor and really enhanced my dishes. But if I had never experienced what the real
vanilla was like, I would have never known what I was missing.
I’m afraid many of us have such a tight grip on our idols, that
we struggle to open our hands and give it all to Him. We cling to the imitation, not realizing how
much better the real thing would be.
Will it cost more to loosen our grip?
Yes it probably will. But I
happen to believe the benefits will far outweigh any cost or sacrifice that we
might experience.
Before we can deal with the chaos around us, we must first deal
with the chaos within us. Who or what is
on the throne of your life today? Is it an
imitation or the real thing?
“No
one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other,
or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God
and money.
Matthew 6:24
“Only
fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what
great things he has done for you.”
1 Samuel 12:24
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