Sunday, January 27, 2013

Love, Trust and Obey

Pastor Tim Keller says in his book Counterfeit Gods "The Bible uses three basic metaphors to describe how people relate to the idols of their hearts.  They love idols, trust idols, and obey idols."
So here is one test for idols of our hearts:  What do you love?  What do you trust?  What do you obey?
Do we love money, power, success, pleasure, position?  What ever you love more than God is an idol in your heart.  How do you know if you love something more than you love God?  What demands our time and our energy?  What do you look to for your significance?
What have you put your trust in?  Where do you get your security?  Would you be destroyed if the things that you trust were shown to be untrustworthy?
Finally, are you prepared to obey God above all else?
Revelation 12:11 says, "They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death."  When you love God more than even you own life then you know that you have torn down the idols of our hearts.
So what is an idol?  To quote Tim Keller again, "It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give."

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