Breaking Down The Idols

The Summer At The Movies series is great fun, and designed to be that way. From the tone we are trying to set, the environments we are creating, the popcorn machines, using movies as a departure point...all fun.

But, make no mistake - the topics are life and death serious. And none is more serious than the one coming Sunday. Idols.

I always have a mixture of excitement and apprehension when I teach on idols, because I believe idolatry is at the core of the spiritual life. Excitement because I know that unmasking our idols leads to a journey of incredible freedom. Apprehensive because the spiritual attack surrounding such a message is always intense.

In a nutshell, idols are anything that we put in place of God - either destructive things or things that in and of themselves are good. And anytime we substitute a false god for the one true God, we set ourselves up for heartache, pain, and missed opportunities. But when we see our idol (s) for what it (they) are and begin the process of letting God overcome them, we become our best true self.

I was struck this week by Eugene Peterson's translation of Psalm 39:11 - "When you put us through the fire to purge us from our sin, our dearest idols go up in smoke".

God is jealous and will not accept us loving and serving anyone but Him - for our own sake, because He wants our joy.

Far better to unmask and begin to deal with our idols before we have to go through the fire - far better, and a lot more fun and life-giving!

See you Sunday - make sure you spend some time praying for others, and yourself, to be able to deal well with the impact of this message...Ballantyne folks, you get an extra week!