Friday, May 7, 2010

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...

...Who's the fairest one of all? Don't lie. You know in your mind you want that mirror to say "YOU are, you gorgeous piece of human. You are the fairest one of all...." Or something to that effect. This would of course have to mean your mirror talks, which is irrelevant to our discussion today.

I really struggle with where my motives lie. In general, I rank many things above God and He is slowly convicting me of this. So where do the mirrors come in, you ask? Well, mirrors are just one example of the many distractions out there that keep me from getting stronger with God. Maybe not actual mirrors, of course, but the reflections IN a mirror can pose quite an obstacle in my walk with Him. (although there are probably people with mirror fetishes out there somewhere. It's ok. God loves you too.) There are tons of obstacles, not just mirrors. It could be your social life, a bf/gf, work, a favorite object, money, family, facebook, or even living comfortably. My point is to be careful with what distracts YOU from God, because it's different for every person.

Now, I'm sure you don't actually refer to your current top priority an "idol." I'm not saying I think you wake up and think "Hmmm, I think I'll go worship and fraternize with my idol, facebook, today!" Hate to sound harsh or blunt, but that's pretty much what you're doing. God needs to be first in all things. If something is more important than being with God, it's an idol. Plain and simple. God says not to make unto ourselves any graven images. That can mean ANYTHING under the sun. I got this in a text message from my youth pastor, Will, and I think it's very fitting here. Just to make you think, of course... "I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like our cell phone? What if we carried it around in our pocket? What if we flipped through it several times a day? What if we turned back to get it, if we forgot it? What if we used it to receive messages from the text? What if we treated it like we couldn’t live without it? What if we gave to the kids as gifts? What if we used it when we traveled? What if we used it in case of an emergency? This is something to make you go "hmm". Where is my Bible? Oh, and one more thing. Unlike our cell phone we don’t have to worry about being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill. Makes you stop and think —where are my priorities? And no dropped calls!"

My point is short 'n sweet. Pay attention to what SHOULD matter to you and what actually DOES. God should be first, but we often find that this is not the case. Maybe it's time to do some re-evaluating...just my 2 cents.

Exodus 20:4-6
"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments."