“O Israel, stay away from idols! I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you. I am like a tree that is always green; all your fruit comes from me.” [Hosea 14.8]
“I have been the LORD your God ever since I brought you out of Egypt. You must acknowledge no God but me, for there is no other savior. [Hosea 13.4]
You must not have any other god but me. [Exodus 20.3]
For all the ire I may have elicited through my comments to this point in time (here in this blog and elsewhere) regarding medicine, money, knowledge, technology, and etcetera, having become idols to us, I am only further convinced by the scriptures above (and their context) that modern society (the "Church" included) is given over entirely to idolatry.
Hosea is profound in his sensitivity to the problem! AND! Hosea is profoundly clear on the solution!
Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for your sins have brought you down. Bring your confessions, and return to the LORD. Say to him, “Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us, so that we may offer you our praises. Assyria cannot save us, nor can our warhorses. Never again will we say to the idols we have made, ‘You are our gods.’ No, in you alone do the orphans find mercy.” [Hosea 14.1-3]
If we are to break free from our prostitution to idols that cannot save us, heal us, deliver us, or provide for us, then we must repent. We must confess our idolatry to God and offer our undivided praise to Him. We must openly denounce any and everything we have trusted in besides God.
It is not enough here to say, "God knows my heart..." as if that makes it okay. The problem is, God DOES know our hearts and has proclaimed that they all are "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17.9). We do not know our own hearts and grave deception is found in any belief that we do!
Faithlessness is as much or more a New Testament problem as it was an Old Testament problem. We cannot declare, "grace, grace!" when we are not in faith in God alone. The New Testament way of faith in God alone is faith in Christ alone for forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness that Jesus provided secured every good and perfect heavenly gift that Jesus declared in Luke 4 through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit:
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.” [Luke 4.18-19]
The Church today must awaken to her calling and sanctification (what she is set apart to). We are called to undivided faith in God alone. The question looms, "How far are we away from undivided faith in God alone?"
Father, forgive me for trusting in the idols of man - the ways of man - the knowledge and advancements of man. And, forgive me for trusting in myself - Oh God, how I have failed you in this! May my words and my actions unmistakably declare faith in You (in Christ) alone for everything. So be it!
No comments:
Post a Comment