Beyond Our Own Idolatry … Grace

Forget You

In the book of Hosea, we read some powerful passages on how people chased after counterfeit gods. God says of Israel: “She doesn’t realize it was I who gave her everything she has—the grain, the new wine, the olive oil; I even gave her silver and gold. But she gave all my gifts to Baal” (2:8). Known as the “storm god,” Baal was worshiped in the ancient cultures around Israel. He was thought to bring rain and fertility to the land, which produced abundant crops. God provided for his people their food and wine, which they then sacrificed on an altar of another god! Imagine your spouse giving you a beautiful piece of jewelry to commemorate his love for you, which you then take and use to entice a hookup at your neighborhood bar. It seems shockingly unbelievable when we look at it this way, but how much more inconceivable—and painful—it must have been for God.

In one of the most tragic verses in the Bible, God says, “She put on her earrings and jewels and went out to look for her lovers but forgot all about me” (Hos. 2:13).

How is it possible to forget someone who loves you so deeply and passionately?

Easier than you might think. Just before heading out the door to make a recent ice cream run, I asked Lori what kind she preferred. She thought for a second and said, “Get anything—as long as it doesn’t have bananas or nuts.”

Easy enough, I thought, and jumped in my car. Fifteen minutes later, I’m staring at the dozens of gallons and countless flavors in the upright freezer at the store, frantically trying to remember what she said. Did she say she liked bananas but not nuts? Or the other way around? Or did she want both? All I remembered was something about bananas and nuts, so I grabbed cartons of both banana split and pecan praline.

When I walked in the door and proudly displayed my selections, she looked at me flabbergasted and kindly asked, “How could you go wrong with only two options? Are you kidding me?” Ever been there? How many items do we forget in the course of an average day? We forget our glasses, car keys, homework, report deadline or a friend’s birthday. It’s so much easier than we realize to forget God.

When we forget God, it’s rarely that we wake up and choose to do it. It’s often subtle and slow, gradual over the course of one day after another. We get busy with work, with school and family responsibilities, even with church. The kids play sports and have music lessons. We have concerts and events and golf games and club meetings. Like the frog in the kettle of water that never realizes it’s getting warmer until it’s too late, we find ourselves gradually slipping away. Imperceptibly we just remove God from the place he used to have in our life.

We also have the human tendency to take things for granted. Once we have a pay raise, for example, it becomes the norm, and we absorb it into our lives. We get a new car and it’s exciting, but before too long there are just as many empty French fry cartons and crumbled-up Cheetos between the seats as in the old one. Many times we simply take God for granted as well. Perhaps in this sense we act more like a spoiled kid than an unfaithful spouse. God blesses us and provides for us, and we just take it all for granted and move forward in life.

When your prayers become sporadic and random, usually when you’re in great need or difficulty, it often points to a shift in your heart. When you can write your name in dust on the cover of your favorite Bible, this might be a problem. When you can’t remember the last time you were at church, or the last meaningful spiritual insight you learned, it could be that you’re simply taking him for granted. I’m not saying you don’t care about him. You know he’s there for you. But you have so many more urgent things to do than connect with him. Before you know it, God can say the same thing to you and me that he said to Israel, they “forgot all about me.”

Fantasy Football

In order to get our memory back—and more important, our relationship with God restored—we must look at who we are and how we’re made. At the core of who we are as men and women, God created us to be “imagers” and “worshipers.” God made us to reflect aspects of his personhood; we’re literally made in his image. Because of this, we will always tend to look like what we worship. “We become what we worship,” explains Bible scholar Greg Beale. “God has made humans to reflect him, but if they do not commit themselves to him, they will not reflect him but something else in creation. At the core of our beings we are imaging creatures. It is not possible to be neutral on this issue: we either reflect the Creator or something in creation.”

The most dangerous idols usually result from good things in our lives. This is spelled out clearly in Paul’s letter to the Romans when he describes humanity as “exchanging the glory of God” and the “truth of God” for God’s gifts in creation (1:23-25, NIV). Our desires, which were meant for God-fulfillment, are reduced and corrupted, leading us to form our own gods, usually tangible entities that give us more immediate gratification. Something that’s meant to be enjoyed gets supersized in our search for pleasure, security or relief from the pain of life. Before you know it, something good has eclipsed everything else in our lives— including God.

The desire for love and romance is a great thing. But if this desire becomes all-consuming and turns into a life quest for a woman or a man, it can become an idol. The desire to be pursued is one God hard-wired into women, but God is ultimately the one who can fulfill this desire. When there is a pull to constantly seek romantic fantasies through the latest Nicholas Sparks novel or Katherine Heigl rom-com movie, one can replace the fulfillment God offers for a Hollywood substitute that just creates unrealistic expectations and frustrations.

Or take sports, which I enjoy as much as the next person. I’ve never thought of myself as one of those fanatics you see in the end zone with their faces painted in team colors and wearing a ridiculous block of cheese, a Viking helmet or a pirate hat. However, I recently came to the realization that perhaps there wasn’t that much separating us after all.

When a friend called me and said he had a free ticket to a Monday Night Football game in Dallas, the Cowboys versus the Redskins, I was there! Every fan’s fantasy, right? I’d watched Cowboys’ games since I was old enough to sit in my dad’s lap rocking in his brown lounger every Sunday afternoon. All I had to do was find a way to get to Dallas. It had been a couple of years since I’d been to a game so I was pumped. Just thinking about the fun I’d have with my friends, the experience of being with other fans, made me happier than I’d been in a while. That week I walked around with a spring in my step. I smiled a lot. The kind of smile that says, “I’ve got good news.” It was one of those things I couldn’t wait to tell people about!

And with this kind of good news inside me, there was nothing that could bring me down. I had to make some tough leadership calls at church, but I’m going to the Monday night game! My car was acting up (my speedometer read 120 mph as other cars blew past on the freeway), but I’m going to the Monday night game! My good news gave me a positive outlook because it pointed beyond the immediate. I had something special to look forward to that bad news couldn’t touch.

Studying my Bible that week, I turned to the passage where Paul writes, “Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the good news about Christ” (Phil. 1:27). Whenever I had read this verse before, I had always been drawn to an emphasis on how living worthy of Christ means living a better life. What impacted me this time, though, was the fact that I’m called to live worthy of the good news of Christ. I’m called to live as someone who has good news.

It hit me like a Dallas defender sacking Washington’s quarterback. I had let the fact that I was going to a football game shape my outlook all week more directly than the good news of Jesus! How much more should the good news reframe my perspective? After all, I’ll forget who even won the game within a short period of time, especially if it’s the other team!

Jud Wilhite
Jud Wilhitejudwilhite.com/

Jud Wilhite is an author, speaker and senior pastor of Central Christian Church, a church founded in Las Vegas with multiple campuses, both national and international. Central is an Outreach 100 church.

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