The Saturday Challenge

Read Isaiah 1

 

 

"Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways.
Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the orphans. Fight for the rights of the widows."

--

Isaiah 1:16-17

 

 

Two years have passed since I wrote the two previous posts in this series. I still feel the sting of conviction, and see the inconsistencies in my life, even as I read the words that flowed from my heart then. In some ways, I would just like to shove this topic off into some dark corner of my life to deal with later, but I long to live fully for the Lord and so I press on though I am sure to uncover things that will hurt. I set my heart on seeking the Lord, and I have turned to His Word for wisdom as I read through the book of Isaiah.

 

 

They seemed to be doing all the right things. They offered God sacrifices, burnt offerings, incense offerings, worship, prayer, gifts, and they held devout meetings. They celebrated the Sabbath and the other festivals and special days of fasting. What more could God have wanted from them? They were following His laws and checking off their lists and fulfilling all of the rituals. However, a problem remained. A problem so big that nothing that they did for God even mattered in His sight. Perhaps the people of Judah were experts at keeping the law and putting on an appearance of devotion, but they were fake. Deep down, their hearts were divided, and in the end they tried to fill their lives up with a little bit of everything. They served the LORD, but they also bowed down to idols. They brought their sin offerings to the temple, but they also worshipped created things. They sought to impress others with their devotion, but deep down they had no problem overlooking the cause of the widow and the orphan. They were set on their own dishonest gain.

 

You see the people of Judah somehow forgot that the LORD of Heaven's Armies was not supposed to be one small part of their life---HE WAS TO BE THEIR LIFE. They forgot that they were not just supposed to offer sacrifices and keep the Sabbath, but they had a whole new identity as God's set apart people. They forgot the words Moses had spoken years before:

 

"Listen, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. And you must love the LORD your God   with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves                     wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today" (Deuteronomy 6:4-6).                       

 

You see the people of Judah had a heart issue; they did not love God with their whole heart. Instead, their hearts were devoted to idols, wealth, self, dishonest gain, bribes, and self-righteousness. They kept the LORD of Heaven's Armies and added Him to their list of things "to do", along with all the other gods that the nations around them worshipped. They recreated God, you might say, into something fashioned in their own image, something they could handle and manage.

 

How sad it is to see how God's chosen people turned their backs on the One who set them apart as His own precious people. Yet as I pour over their story, my heart becomes more and more aware and convicted that theirs is not so much more different than my own. You see it is so easy to think that an idol is just some statue made from wood, stone, gold, or silver, when really the material and the appearance of the idol has nothing to do with it at all. We can make anything an idol, even the good things in our lives. So when I use the term "Destroy Our Idols" I do not mean to get rid of all the "good things" in our lives that may be taking God's place. No, instead we must uncover the heart issue, and do whatever it takes to keep the Lord as our number one priority.

The problem is that we do the same thing that the people of Judah did all those many years ago. We want God to be apart of our life, but we don't want Him to be our life. We have crafted a Christianity where we can pick and choose what things to add to the "God part". We give the Lord Sunday (and sometimes Wednesday too), and maybe we even carve out a small chunk of time each day to spend with Him, but then the rest is ours. We separate God from everything else in our lives and we think we can contain Him in the box we have crafted.

I suppose on the surface the idols of our day would perhaps be thought of as all the things that take up our time: face book, television, video games, other time consuming hobbies, our physical appearance, excessive exercise, etc. Or maybe all of the things that consume our money: cars, houses, food, clothes, decorating, etc. Or perhaps it is the ones we hold dear: children, husband, wife, parents, friends, etc. However what is the heart issue? Why do we spend exuberant amounts of time and money in these pursuits all the while neglecting our relationship with God? Should we just throw all of these things out the window so that we can be fully devoted to God?

Well, the answer is "NO" because in the end if our hearts are not right then it won't really matter what things we have, we still won't love God.

I think we must first realize what our identity is. If we have committed our lives to the Lord then Jesus is our identity---HE IS OUR LIFE! So that means that everything we do must flow back to Him in praise. We can no longer categorize our lives because Jesus is our life.

So here the challenge I have given myself, and I will also give to all who read this post too.

Keep God in every part of your life because He is your life. Look at the things you do through His eyes and that will help you see what has become "idols" in your heart. Pray, pray, pray! And search God's Word. Don't just live with an appearance of godliness---BE REAL!

Here are some questions that I am asking myself today:

How am I living my life? Who or what is my biggest priority? Am I doing all of the "right things" but forgetting to love the Lord with all of my heart, mind and strength? Am I living a life that shows God's love to widows and orphans? Am I caring for them as Christ would care for them or am I so caught up with my busy life and my busy schedule?

Lord, today I want to say "yes" to whatever you have planned for me this day. I want you to be my number one priority. I don't just want to give you this time of "devotions" in the morning, but I want to give you this entire day. I do not want to treasure the blessings you give me more than I treasure you. So please help me to honor you with my life and set you apart as number one. When I am on face book help me to encourage others and point them back to you, when I am cleaning my house help me to fill up my empty thoughts with songs of praise to you and Bible verses, when I need time to relax and rest please help me to choose a good book or movie that would point my thoughts and heart back to you and motivate me to live for you more and more, help me to seek out ways to encourage others and care for them, help me to love the "one" person you send in my life. You are my life, Lord, so I come to you seeking Your help to live each moment with You, for You, in You, and through You.


 

 

 

 



The Saturday Challenge

God has greatly challenged me the past several months to examine my life to see what idols I have set up in my heart. I do not often think of myself as a person who serves idols (that is something that people in the Old Testament did, not me!), but by God’s grace He has showed me how entrapped I am by the idols in my life. My heart is grieved and filled with such anguish as I stop and see how I actually live and act and invest my time and thoughts; I am no different than the children of Israel when they were in the wilderness, continually wandering away from the one who had rescued them from slavery.

Bed Time Thoughts ~

...Because The Hellos Are Just So Wonderful!

I remember that night. All of us kids stuffed into one big hotel bed! There were other beds...but we all wanted to be together, for as long as we could. We knew that the morning would bring the hard reality of how bad saying goodbye would hurt.

Now as I sit here tonight, a little more than two years later, I remember all the goodbyes. And I wonder, "why do they have to hurt so much?"

I think about the times that I returned to my boat in Seattle, WA after having such sweet times with my family. I remember how my heart ached, and how loneliness seemed to swallow me up...and I wonder, "why did that pain have to be so great?"

The Saturday Challenge

 

 

I would like to start a new blog series that is actually an old idea of mine from my last blog. I had started to work on this series (Destroying Our Idols) but only managed to write a couple posts. However I am going to give it another shot! I love writing and sharing the things God is doing in my life (via writing), so please join me on Saturdays to delve deeper into this topic.

 

 

“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.”

--

Hebrews 4:12-13

I know life can be very busy at times, but I would beg you to stop for a few moments and take a trip with me today. Trust me, where we are going is not easy, and what we must do when we get there and all along the way is even harder; but be assured, that if you do not take time to come with me now, your soul shall be in very grave danger. So let us go and search the depths of our hearts and souls, and let us cast down our idols and turn wholeheartedly to serving the Living God.

Grace Like Gloves

 

 

Fresh morning. Dew drops glistening in sunshine rays. Earthy dirt smell. Bugs busily going about their day.

 

I stepped outside and sized up the small flower bed. My friend needed some help with the weeding, and she wanted to clear a spot for some new flowers.

 

I love flowers! I never used to like planting them though because of the bugs and spiders and worms that you always come across when working in the soil. But my friend needed me, and so I mustered up some courage deep within myself...which wasn't much!