No Other Gods

Photo: Patrick Tomasso

How many times have you (and I) fallen in that one particular sin that seems to keep dragging you further and further down? I know that when it comes to my own spiritual life, it can seem so hard to want to fight the temptations of sin. We may struggle, go away from it - try to place it in the furthest part of our minds, but something or someone can resurrect that buried temptation, which for me often causes me to fall into sin. 

Is it right that we do this? Is it okay to habitually sin, giving half-hearted confessions of which in the moment we do mean but later fail to act like we've been redeemed from our sin? No, and not only is it illogical, it's actually quite stupid.

Now, I don't mean to be rude by saying that, but to be honest with you, I fall into this same mindset, and before I've actually realized it, I've given myself up to things that degrade and undermine my worth and value found in Christ. When we willingly believe a lie in exchange of clinging to the truth of Christ, we're not only saying that we don't fully trust God, but also and most critically, that we don't believe that the power of the Cross is enough for us. Every time we say yes to sin, we're saying that the power of God's magnificent love isn't enough to perfect, establish, strengthen an settle us (1 Peter 5:10). It's only through the power of God that we're able to resist temptation and yield to the Spirit of God - Satan wants us as believers to fall into his traps, because it only gives him more ammunition to use against us when we're weak. 

What all this boils down to is a battle of mastership - who are we really willing to serve and commit to? 

No One But Me

Taking a look at Exodus 20, we find what is called The Ten Commandments, laws given by God to the people of Israel by God's servant, Moses on Mount Sinai. Immediately, before any of the commandments have been given, God states, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." God wanted to remind the people of Israel about what He's done for them, how He has provided for them and created a way of escape for them from their bondage. If you later read throughout the rest of the Bible, the people of Israel does EASILY forgetful of what God does for them, making this statement ever so important. 

Here's where things being to get even more intense. God says, "You shall have no other gods before Me." Nothing. Not our jobs, children, money, house, spouses - nothing can come before God and replace His ultimate authority in our lives, because He is a "jealous God". I heard something a few years ago while in school about Oprah Winfrey and her being in church one Sunday while the preacher was covering this topic, and because of the fact that God was jealous over anything being placed before Him, she developed a distaste towards God and church in general. I'm not 100% sure this is for her (I'll provide some links below and allow you to see for yourself) but I believe that Oprah has it totally wrong on this. 

In reference to God being jealous, it's not talking about in the sense of enviousness, but that of God loving us so much that He's not willing to let anything - sin, a false god/idol - to come between the relationship He's established with us. 

Who Will It Be?

So it all comes down to this -  who are you going to give your all? Will you fully surrender and lay out everything for God - your talents, gifts, money, resources, time, children, spouses, jobs - or will you elevate them where they don't belong? This isn't a question you can ask yourself one time and let that be the end. This question must be asked with each moment and decision of our lives. Judgment comes when God is lowered out of His highly exalted position in our lives - but, if we repent, His grace and mercy is there to meet us (Exodus 20:7, Proverbs 28:13, 1 John 1:9). 

SDG

Lust, Pride, and Power (Part 2)

Photo: Pedro Gandra (Unsplash)

Pride can come in different forms and sizes. It can be seen as a small issue to some people, but when you get to the root of the issue, pride is a big ugly mess. It makes us put on this front that we are totally in control of everything that goes on in our lives. We are in control, and we are the boss of our lives. Pride paints this mirage of us being greater than ourselves when deep inside we know we have little power of our own. In Romans 1, Paul describes what pride is and gives some of the things it does for believers in Christ and those who don't believe in Christ. The effects are the same for both, but for those who don't believe in Christ, the consequences are much greater, and I'll explain that later on.

Romans 1: 28 says:

"Because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong."

Like what was mentioned in Part 1, people began to idolize the things that God created rather than worshiping Him. Because they didn't acknowledge God's power and holiness, God delivered them to a worthless mind. Worthless means to have no good qualities and deserving contempt, disgrace, or disobedience. They wander away from God until all traces of His truth is far from their minds. This doesn't mean that they don't that the bad things that they are doing is bad; they are fully aware of all of the bad decisions that they do. This means that they know that what they are doing is bad, but instead of turning away from their sins, they do what is bad to please themselves rather than God. People live their lives to the fullest, indulging in their desires, when deep down they know that one day they will be judges by the One they rejected (Romans 1:32). God, being just, allows them to freely choose to disobey Him. He won't force Himself on anyone.

Because of their worthless minds, they do anything and everything that is in opposition to God, His holiness and His goodness. Verses twenty-nine through thirty-one states:

"They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful."

Everything that are mentioned in these verses are against God's nature (Galatians 5:22-26). It's not a coincidence that the words "proud" and "boastful" are in the center of these verses. All of the other things that are mentioned stem from pride and boasting. 

There are two types of pride, but really they are the same. The first type comes from having an esteemed position. This can be a good thing, because it's okay to be proud of the work that you have done. However, this pride can turn very ugly when we start to feel that we are entitled to the finer things in life - the mansions, cars, money, etc. Along with this we begin to feel that everything good that has happened to us was done by ourselves and God had nothing to do with it. Evil happens as a result of God allowing it to take place. (I'll talk more about this type of pride in Part 3, dealing with power)

The second type of pride comes from people who really don't have much authority but tries to fake like they do until they actually have some sort of power. They'll do whatever it takes to get to the next level, whether it be with a job that their working, wanting higher grades in school, more money - the list goes on. They're never fulfilled with their chase, but pride causes them to never seek God for His guidance or trust in Him (see Proverbs 3:5-6). 

A final thing about pride is that it is directly connected to lust. Idolizing things of this world - things leading to arrogance and pride in self - produces pride. Lust and pride go hand in hand, just like pride and power; however, the Holy Spirit gives us the power to not yield to temptation. In the Garden of Eden, Eve was tempted by Satan to eat fruit from a tree that God had told Adam not to eat from. Eve saw that the fruit was pleasing to eat (lust), and then when Satan told her that she would become like God she decided to eat the fruit, knowing that what she was doing was wrong (pride). In contrast, Jesus Christ was also tempted by Satan for 40 days, all in the same ways (Mt. 4:1-11; Mk. 1:12-13; Lk. 4:1-13). He was offered bread to feed his flesh, offered all of the kingdoms of the world, and was tempted to prove that he was the Messiah. Instead of yielding, Jesus resisted Satan by using the word of God. 

Some take-away points:

• How have you allowed pride to take over your life? 
• What are you chasing after? Is it the things of this world, or is it God?
• Where does your pride come from? Is it from having an authoritative position and failing to give honor to God, or is it that you're taking matters in your own hands to be in a position that God hasn't placed you in?

Lust, Pride, and Power (Part 1)

My dad told me a long time ago that the three things that will destroy someone is lust, pride, and incorrectly using power that God has given you. As I've grown up, I have found his words to be true. Most of the sins that we commit are intertwined within these three things. Reading Romans 1:24-25 & 28-32, I have seen what my dad was talking about. (In this post, I won't cover verses 26 and 27 which deals with homosexuality because I feel that topic could be its own post. If you would like a post on that, leave a comment below). This blog post will be the first part of possibly 3 (maybe 4), so be on the lookout for the other parts.

In continuance with the previous post, You Have No More Excuses, I'll first start by defining what lust is. Lust is an intense longing or craving for something or someone, usually in a sexual manner. There's no emotions or feelings behind it. It's just that when we see something that we like, we build up a deep desire for it in our hearts that starts off small. It grows to the point that it becomes all that we think about. Ultimately, it becomes like a god to us within our hearts. To put it in context, another word for lust could be "idol". In society today we've lusted after sex, money, drugs and the liking for so long that we have assumed that it is normal for us to do. We can fulfill our desires by either watching TV, listening to music, the internet, and social networking sites. As much as we try these things, none of them provide long-term satisfaction.

People tend to think that they can stop sinning anytime they want to by just praying that God would swoop down, rescue them from their problem and leave, only for them to go back to that same sin eventually to continually deepen the hole that they're in. Sin doesn't work that way. Sin will sooner or later make you its slave, making it impossible to break from it without Divine help. For instance, in 2 Samuel 13:1-33, King David had many kids, one who is his daughter Tamar, and Amnon his son by other woman other than Tamar's mother. Amnon lusted deeply after Tamar. He figured that since Tamar was only his half-sister, it was okay for him to be with her. Amnon's idolization for Tamar deepened to the point that he plotted out a plan on how he could rape her. After he raped her, Amnon despised her and refused to let her be around him. Tamar's brother Absalom didn't tell anyone. King David found out about Tamar's rape and punished Amnon. Later in the verses (2 years later), Absalom has one of his servants kill Amnon for raping Tamar. You see, your lust problems may be hurting you, and indeed it is, but it also effects others.

In our hearts we, like Amnon, often worship the acts of sex, earning money and other things for enjoyment over the One who created these things. When people worship the things God created instead of the Creator, we distort and destroy the very things we claim to value. I know for me that for a long time my views on marriage, sex, and relationships were distorted. For a very long time I dealt with porn and low self-esteem issues, so with the combination of those two things, I really felt like crap! With God's help, I've been able to see my true identity in Him. Not saying that I haven't fallen into those sins since then, but knowing that in Christ there's no condemnation (I'll talk about this more in a later post). 

Relating all of this back to Romans 1, lust and idolatry has devastating effects. As a believer, community and accountability is important; for one, to avoid falling into traps that may lead to lust, and secondly, to aid in the process of recovering from those sins. 

There's more I can add on this topic and on the other parts of this blog title, and I plan on doing it in the next few posts that I put up. (I figured that this post has been long enough!)

Some things to consider:

1. How have you allowed lust and idolatry to control what you do and what you think?
2. How have you been allowing the Holy Spirit to guide you in purity and truth? It's not easy, and we do make mistakes, but have you been letting God work in your heart to change you into His image?

Be on the lookout for Part 2!