Next Step - February 21

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - which is really no gospel at all. - Galatians 1:6-7

We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. - 1 John 5:20-21

Hi Everybody

Have you turned to a different gospel -- which is really no gospel at all? Are you keeping yourself from idols?

If most of us were asked these questions I think we would either be confused or annoyed -- perhaps both. "Of course not, a different gospel? Idols?" I think we would quickly reject the idea. But, I think we would actually reject it too quickly.

In the course of each day, I think most of us are tempted to find our salvation in idols, functional saviors. An idol is any created thing that takes the place of God. It's anything other than God that you make an ultimate thing. It's anything in your life that is so central to you that if you lose it you don't have any meaning; you can't do without it. Usually they are good things -- family, work, success, comfort, beauty, academic or financial success, to name a few. They are good things that we allow to become ultimate things. And when they become ultimate things, we rely on them for our well-being, and we are prevented from truly experiencing God and those good things that He gives us. They become a different gospel, they become idols.

Tim Keller, a pastor in NYC, suggests that all of the things that we do but do not want to do, all of our sins can be traced to four basic idols: Comfort, Power, Control and Acceptance. Think of a situation that you sin or a time that you behave in a way that you wish that you hadn't. Which one of these four idols does it relate to? Why is that idol important to you? How does that idol take the place of God?

When you realize the root of the behavior and see how that root attempts to steal grace and take the place of God, it is a lot easier to allow God to change the behavior by changing the root idol. Give it a try, let me know what you discover.