Friday, October 29, 2010
Idolatry
“The
essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are
unworthy of Him. It begins in the mind
and may be present where no overt act of worship has taken place….Wrong ideas
about God are not only the fountain from which the polluted waters of idolatry
flow; they are themselves idolatrous. The
idolater simply imagines things about God and acts as if they were true.” --A.W. Tozer
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Good without God?
Back in October
of last year in New York around the time when Greg Epstein’s book Good without God was released, there was
an advertising campaign with the slogan “A Million New Yorkers are Good Without
God. Are you?” (More about it here: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/good-without-god-atheist-subway-ads-proclaim/) (This summer, I saw some signs that I suppose
were done in response to this advertising saying, “I am good with God.” (More about this here: http://www.goodwithgod.org/thecampaign.html).
So in
thinking about this, I wasn’t thinking of whether I think people are good with
or without God because I believe what the Bible says, “for all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
None of us is good without God.
People are imperfect and are incapable of being perfect. And because of this we deserved a separation
from God [death]: “For the wages of sin
is death.” But instead, God gave us the greatest gift: “eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”
(Romans 6:23). And so Jesus exchanged
His righteousness for our unrighteousness and He paid the penalty for our
sins. So now, when God looks at us, He
sees Jesus’ righteousness and not our unrighteousness. Because of Jesus we were made righteous.
But anyways,
I digress. What I was thinking was okay,
so people who are not Christians say that they are “good without God.” But I wonder, how many people in the
Christian community, in how they live their lives, are saying the same? Perhaps they are not broadcasting it our
saying it out loud, but how many people’s lives are demonstrating the exact
same thing? How many Christians are
trying to become “good” people without God’s power? How many people are focusing on conforming to
society’s standards of “good” behavior or conforming to the church’s standards
of “good” behavior, rather than abiding in God, remaining in Him, and being
transformed from the inside out and bearing much fruit? How many Christians are trying to perform,
perform, perform for other people and for God?
How many people are trying to live the Christian life out of their own
power and strength? Instead of remaining
in the vine as it says in John 15. Or how many people rely on
their strategies and their methods to try to see life change in people rather
than depending upon God?
I know I’ve definitely seen this in my own life. Those are the times when I think the Christian life is so difficult. Those are the times when I realize of course it’s difficult because I’m not relying on God to do the transformation. I’m trying so hard to change the outside through my actions, when it’s my heart that really needs the transformation. It’s in those times that I need to remind myself of Jesus’ words in John 15:5—“I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
I know I’ve definitely seen this in my own life. Those are the times when I think the Christian life is so difficult. Those are the times when I realize of course it’s difficult because I’m not relying on God to do the transformation. I’m trying so hard to change the outside through my actions, when it’s my heart that really needs the transformation. It’s in those times that I need to remind myself of Jesus’ words in John 15:5—“I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
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