We all like Sheep


Exodus 20

We are all worshipers.  Our Creator knows our hearts very well.  Unfortunately, there is a tendency for us as followers of Christ to look at far away cultures and even cults and scoff at their idols and how they worhsip.  We shake our heads at golden statues shrines and prayer wheels.  Thinking we are a far superior people because we follow Christ.  The reality is that we are as much of idol worshipers as they are.  We may not have golden statues and prayer wheels but we do put all kind of things before God.  And we fail to remember our former life apart from Christ.  We must continiue to remember that an idol is anything that we put in the place of God.  Even pastors tend toward pastor worship.  We at times exault a favorite pastor/leader and their teaching above what we even read in the Scriptures.  We battle over who is more Biblical or concervative.  We take sides and throw our gernades.  We try to speak like our heros and even dress like them.    Believe me there is nothing wrong with having mentors or people to look up to.  Even Paul tells the church to follow him as he follows Christ.  But when those individuals subtly take the place of God in our hearts there is a problem.

In Exodus twenty God gives Moses and his people the ten commandments.  The first of which is that we should not worship any gods besides him.  If only we could perfectly keep this one commandment then that would align us for obedience on the other nine.  But we fail.  We set all kinds of other things in the place of God in our life.  We even say things like, "Jesus is my co-pilot."  Not really considering what we are communicating.  Jesus the giver of life, the creator of the air we breath, our God and Savior is just a co-pilot.  Jesus does not want to be the top of our list. He deserves his own category apart from all others.  In just twelve chapters God's people will be worshiping a golden calf.  What happened?  Did they suddenly forget their miraculous deliverance?  Have they forgotten the provision of the manna, quail, and water? 

God likens us to sheep.  You know what, that is a great description.  Sheep have very poor eye sight.  They often wander away because they can only see what is directly in front of them.  So they eat and keep moving further and further away.  All the while not considering or noticing that anything was wrong. 

 I am thankful that God knows my heart.  He knows my weakness.  He knows my brokenness.  And still he rescued me. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Filth Crave

Image
I Peter 1:21 - 2:3 We are called to sincere real love. It is expected that since we have trusted in Christ's work and we are committed to following Him then that should be what compels us forward in our life. We must crave pure spiritual milk. We must be nourished by God. The problem is that we tend in action to crave filthy water. We settle for a cool refreshing liquid that is filled with particles, bacteria, and virus'. That filthy water is our acting loving, kind, and gracious in our hearts and yet being filled with deceit, bitterness, and anger. Throughout our day thousands of thoughts sweep though our minds. It is our choice to cling to certain thought processes and foster them. It is also our choice what we fill our lives with (or even who we fill our lives with). Filthy water results in diarrhea everywhere. We cannot fill our lives with filth and expect health. Likewise we cannot surround our selves with bad influences (people in our lives, those things we w...
Read more

Too Comfortable

Image
Talley's normal position!!! Exodus 1 I love our dog.  Her name is Talley.  She is a beautiful beagle/German shepherd mix.  Her fur is soft and she is very well tempered.  After twelve years of having her in our life I have noticed that she has the gift of napping.   In fact I am pretty confident that 20 hour a day are filled with naps and sleep.  Our children will play with her ears and paws and she won't even budge.  Don't get me wrong she loves walks and to play but that usually brings even longer naps.  Yeah, I totally envy her.  She is a very comfortable and comforting dog. I have been reading through Exodus.  Over the last several years I have spent a lot of time in the New Testament.  So, now I turn to early Israelite history to see myself and my God.  I recently taught through Abraham to Joseph (I am also reading that with my son).   So, now I turn to Moses. When I ready that first chapter I ...
Read more
Image
I Peter 2:4-12 It started in the garden. That is when humanity began passing the buck. Instead of accepting responsibility for what he had done in eating the apple Adam pointed at God and Eve. The other problem is that he hid. Today this is seen in weak marriages, poor performance in jobs, and us allowing everyone else the responsibility of raising our children. We blame our spouse, we blame our boss, and we allow teachers, television, video games, and pop culture to raise our children. It is no wonder that marriages are failing and children walk away from God the first chance they have. I still love Keith Green's song, Asleep in the Light. I think that describes the modern church. We no longer see ourselves as Peter describes us as strangers and foreigners. No do we live as God's living stones in his holy temple or as priests. We live as though there will be a U-Haul behind our hearse. We live as though the gospel is secondary. American Christianity is failing. ...
Read more