From Idolatry to LOVE!

Idolatry, it was a challenging subject to address! Last night in our Young Adults study, we really got challenged as to what the idols are in our lives. A definition was shared, "anything that takes the place of God in your heart!" With this they listed of so many different things that can be an idol and most I had never thought of. When we look at these idols that are in our lives we really must come to reality and not let selfishness get in the way or there will be no truth behind what you are looking at. We must get to the root of the problem and not just talk about it and say we have addressed it. If we are doing that we are just putting this issue on a back burner and never really seeing what the root cause of the problem is. We have to take this things to Jesus and let him help us see how to replace the lie we have embedded in our hearts with the truth of the gospel!

This video is one that was posted on the blog before but worth posting again. It is of Mark Driscoll (Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle) speaking and ABC news about this same subject "Idolatry" which I though was good to watch!



This morning while getting ready for work and making breakfast I was overly joyed to hear music in the background! I felt the joy of the Lord instantly! Then I stopped and looked at my bible and it was open to Galatians 5:1 that says, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and don not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." How awesome of a message is this to get in the morning! After last nights study I was weighed down a little by the strength that we often pull with idols in our lives! I can feel the burden on my heart of effects that idols can have on us! As i read on jumping to Galatians 5:6b, "the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." What does this mean i think to myself all morning? What does faith do for us? The Bible says that we are saved through faith! (Gal 2:15-16, Rom 3:22, Eph 2:8-9). This saving faith is a living faith in a living Savior and thus is the expression of love-motivated deeds. Talk about love, what is that word mean, John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." I can't even fathom that concept. Is true love is giving up everything for those have nothing? What is it?

True love is what Christ did for us First we have to look at who we are in this mess of a world! Titus 3:3, "At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and ency, being hated and hating one another." This is who we really are. Also in Rom 1:21-25, as we have talked about before, we are a wicked people who have suppressed and replaced the truth of God for a lie!

Now we go back to Titus to again understand what this love is. Titus 3:4-8, "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, who he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal live. This is a trustworthy saying.

What a picture of this love that God has for us! As it says and Titus and I fell that we should emphasize the love of God appeared first then HE saved us and again not because of our righteousness but because of his MERCY. How did he save us? as it goes on the say, "through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit." Again think about what a baby is covered with when first born. They are covered with blood and yuk from the birthing process. so the be saved through a washing of rebirth, God comes to us and cleans the yuk off so that when he looks at us we are seen and clean and a new creation in Christ Jesus. Sometimes this is symbolic through baptism of believers who have committed their lives to Christ! Then comes the renewal by the Holy Spirit, which is a leading, or a conviction, and consistent imparting of divine life to believers as they surrender their lives to God (Rom 2:2).

Now that we have been saved through faith in Christ alone, and washed clean, and renewed by the Holy Spirit, we have been been justified by His grace so that we might have eternal life! Paul goes on to finish this bold statement but saying, "This is a trustworthy saying." in other words we can trust in the fact that through faith in Christ alone are we saved and can have hope and a life in eternity in heaven with our Lord and Savior Jesus!