Idolatry

After proclaiming his goodness, the Rich Ruler gets the answer he didn't want to hear.

Luke 18: ²²When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

²³When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. ²⁴Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Ouch!! After all of his attempts to be "good" he was still lacking. The rich ruler had put his money before God. He had one thing in his life he didn't want to part with. Greed and Idolatry.

I don't know if I even need to say it. Christ warned us about greed, God warned us about greed, the scriptures say it over and over again and yet, we still struggle. We either have it and don't want to part with it or we don't have it and covet those that do. Such a struggle. Search your heart continually for the spirit of greed. If you find you have put your material things above the things of God, it may be time to make some changes. God is in the business of repairing hearts and when your ready, He is willing to make a change in you and your attitudes about money.

I have to be make a confession here, the words of Jesus scream to me about my own need to repent in the area of Idolatry in my life. I recently heard Mark Driscoll speak about idolatry, he talks about making good things into God things and how it becomes a bad thing. Anything, and I mean anything, that gets in front of God in our lives is bad. Money, Relationships, Our Children, Our Ministries.....

Is there something in your life you would be angry at God for if He took it away? What if it was for your own good, would you be willing to give it up? I am not making any judgements here, I am personally in the middle of being called out for this in my own life by a dear Christian friend. I am putting the feelings of one person above what God is putting on my heart. I love God and want nothing more than a life filled with His glory and yet, I am bowing my head like the Rich Ruler, I don't know how to do this. Pray for me and I to pray for you and the things you choose to put before God. May we all find the strength, the courage, and the humble attitudes required to step out and faith and put God as number one in our lives.

This verse comes to mind as I think about idolatry in my life and I am reminded that there is a transforming power in Christ and He is doing a work in me.

^{Romans 12:1-2 (msg)} So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.