Buenos días friends of JESUS! May the HOLY SPIRIT give you discernment and may angels camp in front of your houses. May the FATHER preserve you from the trap of seduction and may your heart be at peace.
“Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let Myself be inquired of at all by them? (Ezékiel 14:3, NKJV)
“You shall have no other gods before Me. (Exodus 20:3, NKJV)
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers." (3 John 1:2, NKJV)
GOD wants us to be flourishing, healthy, fulfilling our destiny, and using our gifts and talents for his glory. GOD truly loves us. His love is true, eternal, unconditional, holy, and perfect. He has proven this many times over. His greatest proof of love is the sacrifice of JESUS.
GOD wants the best for us. So it is good to aspire to it. Intercessors often say, " We don't get what we wish for, we get what we pray for." Faced with them, pragmatists respond, " We don't have what we pray for, we have what we invest in. What we invest our attention, time, resources, and relationships in. " I believe that the truth lies at the intersection (not in the middle) of the two. GOD can do things and he wants to do, but he will not intervene without our consent. He enables us to do things, but he will not do them for us. JESUS gave his life for the salvation of all, but only those who believe are saved (John 3:16, Acts 16:31, Romans 10:9). GOD answers prayers, but our attitudes can delay their manifestation. He gives us spiritual weapons (Ephesians 6:13), but if we do not wear them, we will be defeated.
Aspirations become idols when we confuse the best of GOD with the best with GOD. In other words, when we pursue privilege at the expense of the relationship. An idol is anything that occupies a place reserved for GOD in your heart, your thoughts, and your worship. An idol is anything that you love more than GOD. It is everything by which you define your identity, your happiness, and your life before GOD. So much so that you consider your life meaningless if you don't have it or if you lose it. It is any desire that leads you or could lead you to deny GOD, sell your soul to the devil, contradict your values, change your personality, commit abuses, and hurt yourself and others to satisfy it. An idol can be something good (or legitimate) that has become an obsession: money, profit, social status, marriage, children, career, ministry, physical appearance, recognition, justice, etc. Eve was the idol of Adam. Knowledge and intelligence were the idols of Eve.
GOD hates idolatry and there is no excuse for idolatry. Whether the idol is internal (aspiration turned obsession, occupying the place of GOD) or external (image, statues, objects, stars, demons, dead), the verdict is the same. GOD hates idolatry (Exodus 20:3, Deuteronomy 16:21-22, Deuteronomy 27:15) and idolaters have no inheritance in the Kingdom (Ephesians 5:5). Some people will never kneel before the statues of the pagan idols of beauty (e.g. Aphrodite), but they are obsessed with their physical appearance and the desire to seduce. Others will never kneel before the statues of the idols of wealth, but they are slaves of comfort, obsessed with money and profit. Others will never kneel before so-called statues of Mary or worship the dead, but they keep so-called pictures of JESUS in their living rooms and honour the traditions of their ancestors more than the commandments of GOD.
It is written, "For with you is the fountain of life; by your light we see light." (Psalms 36:10, LSG). Life is in GOD and not in idols. Idols blind, deafen and kill. Idols lock us up with illusions. What is your definition of happiness, fulfillment, identity, and peace? and failure? What motivates you to do what you do? What would happen if you lost it? What is your excuse for disobeying GOD? If your relationship with GOD or your obedience (to GOD) depends on the answer to a prayer, it is likely that the subject of that prayer is an idol in your heart.
When a single person justifies having sex outside of marriage, it is most likely because the idea of a couple is an idol in their heart. If you only go to church in hopes of meeting a potential future husband or wife, marriage is probably an idol in your heart. It is good to serve, participate and invest in church activities. But, you must do it for the right reasons and not because you want to receive something from GOD in return.
You want to have children, you pray day and night to have them. Have you ever prayed for orphans, for those in charge of orphanages? A parent whose teenager has gone astray? A missing child? My goal is not to make you feel guilty, but to encourage you to ask the HOLY SPIRIT. Simply say to Him, " HOLY SPIRIT, if I have idols in my heart, help me to recognize them and tear them out." Be inspired by David who said " Search me [thoroughly], O GOD, and know my heart; Test me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way." (Psalm 139:23-24, AMP)
GOD wants us to receive the best. The best of what he has (or can do), but even more the best of what he is. Whatever your aspiration, desire, sigh, need or promise GOD has given you, don't make an idol of it. Don't sell your soul to the devil, don't abandon yourself to the flesh, and lean on JESUS. If you have an idol in your heart, tear it out. ⇒ Confess with your mouth that only GOD is your LORD, repent, take JESUS as your model and ask for the help of the HOLY SPIRIT. ⇒ If GOD does not intervene, the idol that you keep in your heart will kill you. It may even drive you to destroy what you already have.
** Buenos días = Goodmorning in Spanish
Suggestion to go futher
- Les idoles du cœur, Timothy Keller
- Counterfeit Gods: When the Empty Promises of Love, Money and Power Let You Down, by Timothy Keller
- The Grand Demythologizer: The Gospel and Idolatry, Timothy Keller