Who's Your Idol?

On September 4, 2002, millions of viewers watched as Kelly Clarkson was announced as the winner of the first iteration of the hit television show American Idol. She has since been dubbed the most successful American Idol winner, and has gone on to win numerous awards and sell millions of albums. On that day, her life changed and the people voted her as their idol... Largely for her singing talents and possibly for her cute looks and down-to-earth personality.

Okay, so she is pretty cute haha. Not that I have anything against American Idol, but what does God say about idols? What exactly qualifies as an idol? Does that mean we can't enjoy these things because that means we're worshipping them?

Exodus 20:3-5 (NLT)
"You must not have any other god but me. [4] "You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. [5] You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected-even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.

1. Material things: The easiest one is MONEY. Yup, we've all heard it... People worship their riches and the material things they have so much to the point that we forget where it comes from and how fast it can be taken away. I'm guilty of this for sure as I have a very severe attachment to my iPad...

Proverbs 11:28 (NLT)
Trust in your money and down you go! But the godly flourish like leaves in spring.

2. Ourselves: I like to refer to this as pride. We become so engulfed with what we've accomplished - a good job, how good we are at a sport... Or we're vain, and we love our own face our own voice... God knows I know some people who fit into this category.

3. Other people: Yup. Even if we don't think of them as gods. I especially have a problem with this. When someone or something someone has done becomes your every thought, and rules the other aspects of your life, even if it isn't a good person or a good thing, you turn them into a god by letting their actions control your life. And perhaps other people are the worse kind of god there is because not only are they false, but they'll inevitably let you down. God warns us:

Exodus 20:23 (NLT)
Remember, you must not make any idols of silver or gold to rival me.

Anything that rivals our investment of time and energy towards Him is an idol. So... that means we can't enjoy anything on earth, right? WRONG. Money, iPads, jobs, sports, beauty, voices, relationships with other people, being hurt by other people... By investing all your time in them, you have turned them into an idol. What I would think God intended for us is that we USE these things that we cherish so much for God's kingdom. Give away your money, use my iPad for biblical purposes, when you work, work like you're working for God, use a sport to reach out to someone who might need it, find beauty in all God's given us, use your voice to tell others the Good News, build fellowship with one another, and use the hurt from others to seek Christ. It's a process. I haven't done it all, and I don't expect that you have either. But now's our chance to start.

The challenge: who is your idol? What thing (good or bad) is controlling you? Can you change your obsession into a good work for His kingdom?

Letting it Go...

I've been reading Exodus for the past month... And although I always loved the accounts of what happened, I felt like it would merely be a history lesson... How wrong I was.

So if you haven't read Exodus in a while, here's the Coles Notes version of Israel's retreat from Egypt, in 3 paragraphs. Okay so this dude named Moses and His brother Aaron go to Pharoah, asking Him to release the Israelite slaves from Egypt (well, actually they tell a white lie and say they're going for a few days, not fleeing for all time). But God hardens Pharoah's heart and sends 10 plagues (we're talking flies, gnats, blood, hail, boils, death, the works) in order for all of Egypt to know that He is Lord. Eventually, God takes Pharoah's first born son, and Pharoah lets them leave momentarily before he changes his mind and chases them with all of Egypt's best army guys into a watery death. The end!

Okay so that was a super condensed and casual version of it - my translation... Here's some real biblical Truth:

Exodus 9:13 (NLT)
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Tell him, 'This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so they can worship me.

Or as I read it, "LET IT GO, SO YOU CAN WORSHIP ME." Wow. I've been holding onto a lot lately. I've carried my own mini plagues on my shoulders. I've gone back and forth on these issues, and my heart has been hardened by all of the hurt and difficult times, just like Pharoah's. And still I cant seem to let it go. But perhaps these plagues in my life will be used for God to reveal Himself, to finally work a miracle in my life.

I'll admit, I don't think I'm at that stage yet. Pharoah needed to hit rock bottom in order to let it go. His first born son literally died, as did others as a result of his stubbornness. There are times where I feel like I've definitely hit rock bottom. Perhaps you must die to yourself, lose a part of yourself, to hit that rock bottom in order to let it go and feel God's salvation.

The challenge: God causes plagues to strike us in order for us to realize that He is Lord. Will you be stubborn, or will you let go and let God?

Be Transformed!

When my brother and I were growing up, Transformers was one of our favorite shows to watch. When the first Transformers movie came out, my dad took my brother to go watch it in the theaters. In one of the epic scenes of the movie, the main character, my brother's hero, Optimus Prime, dies. My brother, overcome with emotion, cried out behind tears, "Optimus!" What a silly thing, eh? It's just a story, and Optimus comes back to life anyways...

Many years later, the Michael Bay iteration of Transformers came out. In the finals scenes of the film, Optimus Prime is about to fight yet another epic battle with Megatron. "Give me the cube, boy!" shouts Megatron. Sam refuses and with that, Megatron smashes the building into fragments, and sends Sam flying down, plummeting to the earth. Optimus Prime catches him and later expresses amazement that Sam would risk his life for the cube. Sam replies, "No sacrifice, no victory." The movie goes on, and if you're not a total hermit crab, you'll know that Megatron gets his gigabyte ass whooped.

So what's the point? Why is this even relevant?

1. A Hero died and came back to life. Jesus was the ultimate Optimus (I'm going to get backlash from that one some day haha). He was murdered, and yet rose from the dead.

2. No sacrifice, no victory. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice so that we could be victorious with Him in his resurrection. Sometimes in our lives it will take a real sacrifice of time, money, emotions... Our very lives, in order to achieve victory.

3. Last, but not least... A story should be SO moving such that it TRANSFORMS you. Kudos to my geeky brother for having a child-like faith back in the day... It is with this faith that we must be so impacted by the death of our Hero, that we mourn His death, celebrate His return, and as such, TRANSFORM our lives. It should never be called into question whether or not your life has been changed by Him... If there really is faith behind it, it should be fairly obvious.

Romans 12:2 (NIV)
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is---his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Be transformed!

The challenge: Is it very evident in your life that Jesus' story is Truth for you? How has your life changed form as a result of your faith? Is it about time you shared that story with someone else?

The Art of Forgiving

What is something you dread doing? There are a lot of things that I hate doing... Such as washing vegetables, ironing (or wearing) pleated pants... But more than anything I'm currently struggling with forgiving.



Forgiving is one of the hardest things to do. Sometimes people will offend you, and not only do they fail to redeem themselves, but they further add insult to injury. They will tell you one thing, and then their actions will completely be opposite of what they said they were going to do (or not do). Or in trying to explain themselves, they say something that makes the situation even worse. How do we deal with this?

Lewis Smedes wrote a book called, "The Art of Forgiveness.". In an interview about his book, he noted the five things everyone should know about forgiveness:

1. Forgiving is the only way to be fair to yourself: forgiving someone is the way to release you from the prison that that hurt puts you in, and doesn't give this person power over you anymore.

2. Forgivers are not doormats: forgiving someone doesn't mean you condone the behavior, or give the person permission to do it again.

3. Forgivers are not fools: once you've forgiven you are allowed to never return yourself back in the situation to get hurt again.

4. You don't have to wait until he says he's sorry: this is a big one for me... But sometimes you will never hear enough apologies from someone who's hurt you, and waiting for them to gives them power over you.

5. Forgiving is a journey: as in... It takes time. Call it impatience, but I would love to be able to forgive this person RIGHT now, but if I'm being realistic, I know I'm nowhere close to it... And maybe that's okay for now, so long as I'm working on it.

But why should we forgive? As I said earlier, one of the things I hate doing is washing vegetables. I don't know what about it I find so horrible, but for years I used to have to do it before dinner at my parents' house. Every single night I helped my mom cook dinner, and finally after nearly 20 years of washing vegetables, one day I protested to my dad. "I hate washing them!" My dad laughed and asked me then if I wanted to switch with Him and cook all of the meat (a much more difficult task)...



Why should we forgive? Firstly, because our Dad tells us to... But secondly, and more importantly, because He has already done the harder part, and paid the price to forgive us of OUR sins...

Colossians 3:13 (NLT)
Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

Matthew 6:14-15 (NLT)
"If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. [15] But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

The challenge: what haven't you forgiven? If it's something that will be a journey, then like mine, I pray God will give us both the strength to be able to get there.

Oppression: God's invitation

The Prince of Egypt is one of my favorite movies. While there is much biblical truth to be questioned in the movie, it still provides a very good visual glimpse of God's power as written in the Old Testament. One of my favorite scenes is when Moses meets God in the form of a burning bush.




You would think that if you met God your responses would be that solely of awe and amazement. Perhaps it's that Moses didn't truly realize who he was speaking to, or that he simple didn't know what to say, but Moses' response was not one of worship and adoration.

Exodus 3:5-6,10-13,15 (NLT)
"Do not come any closer," the Lord warned. "Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. [6] I am the God of your father-the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. [10] Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt." [11] But Moses protested to God, "Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?" [12] God answered, "I will be with you. And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain." [13] But Moses protested, "If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' they will ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what should I tell them?" [15] God also said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors-the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob-has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations.

How many times have we found ourselves in situations we didn't want to be in? I've been going through a very difficult time for the past two years, but things have been especially difficult during the last 6 months. I have wrestled with a whole vat of emotions that people should never have to feel all at the same time. I find myself questioning God: why would He put me here?

Someone close to me told me last week that the best thing that ever could have happened was her mom getting sick. Her mom has had numerous strokes over several years and now requires 24/7 care. I challenged her on this sentence and she indicated that had her mom not been sick, her family would not have pulled together, she may not have married her husband, and she may never have had her daughter.

When God places events in our lives, we often react as Moses did. In the movie, Moses even tells God that He's wrong and has chosen the wrong person. Moses makes excuses, saying that people won't listen to him, and that he's not a good speaker... But God insists... And works miracles through Moses' life.




As Christians God puts us in difficult places such that we might see His glory on earth. I will honestly admit that I don't understand God's reason for putting me through so much trial at this time, but as Christians we are called to use these times to seek Him. Without oppression, there is no need for salvation. Without disease, there is no need for a cure. And God gives us His reassurance in verse 12, "God answered, 'I will be with you.'"

The challenge: You may not understand the reasons behind why God would cause certain things to happen in your life, but those things are an invitation to seek Him and experience Him. How will you respond?

What can you do in 10 minutes?

I'm not a pastor. I'm not a reverend. I'm not even a very good speaker... But I am a thinker. Over the years I have been given many opportunities to share 10 minutes of faith. Playing in Christian sports leagues has trained me in writing devotions, and I often find myself in a situation saying, "Hmm... that would make a great devo." So here I am using this gift to try to further God's kingdom. If this touches even only one person, then I will have deemed it worth the effort. What's in a devo? What can you get out of 10 minutes with God? I'm going to try to remember that God has His own schedule, and realize that it only takes a second to have a meaningful encounter with Christ. I hope everything I share with people will provide some biblical Truth, personal stories and reflections, as well as a challenge to you as a reader. May God use this for His purposes. Be blessed.