Watching the beautiful sunset this
evening reminded me of the amazing and creative God that we serve,
and my heart began to worship. It's in moments like that, moments of
heart surrendered worship, that I can say that I love God above all
else. He has the #1 and central position in my heart and life.
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But,
if I'm honest, there are also times when I love things more than God.
Over the past few weeks God has been showing me more areas in my
life where idolatry has crept in, and slowly pushed Him out. God has
been calling me to surrender my control, my fear, my personal space
and stuff (our house), and my insecurity in unknown social
situations. Let me explain.
As camp was wrapping up this past
summer my mind started to think about moving back to Brandon and all
the opportunities that may be waiting. When thinking about how to
connect with our coworkers and friends that don't know Jesus, or
don't know Him well, an idea came to me. We should start a bible
study group (we call them Life Groups at our church) for new
Christians and people who want to know more
about God. Cody thought the idea was great and we decided to get it
started shortly after moving back to Brandon.
I was SO excited about
the Life Group... until a few days before the first one. Then things
got real. That's when the worry began to set in.
Worry that no one would show up.
Worry
that it would be so awkward if people did show up.
Worry that they
wouldn't like the snack that I made, or the house wouldn't be clean
enough.
Worry that we wouldn't have the answers to the questions
that they might ask.
Worry that we'd fail in communicating who Jesus
is to people who have never heard before.
And the whole time I was worrying I
just kept hearing God's gentle voice saying, “I got this. I'm the
One leading this Life Group, I'm the One working on these people's
hearts. I'm the One in control.”
And finally I listened. Finally I
surrendered control, our house, and my insecurities to Him. I
worshipped my God by giving Him the Life Group that was already His
in the first place. I finally laid down my idols of control, comfort
and security.
So now every Wednesday Cody and I open
our home to whoever wants to come and learn more about our great God.
We pray, we invite our friends and coworkers, and we wait
expectantly for God to move. I'm so excited for what God may do through this
Life Group!
It really isn't easy giving up an idol. And I'd like to say that that was the last
of my idolatry, that I will always love God more than anything else.
But I know that my heart is prone to wander and that idolatry will
most likely creep in again in my lifetime. But I want God to be the
thing I love more than anything else in this life. So I will let God
tear down every idol that I place up before Him. And I want to encourage you guys to do the same. If the Holy Spirit is convicting you of an idol in your life, give it up to God. Only God deserves our worship.
This video is funny, but it holds a lot of truth. We often love things more than we love God, even if we don't admit it.
Enjoy!
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