Who Do We Turn To?

I turned away from God, but then I was sorry. [Jeremiah 31.19a] 

This is all it takes: repentance.

The whole idea of "repentance" is turning around, turning to, or turning back to, God. Idolatry, on the other hand, is turning away from God. So, the determining factor of our lives is who we turn to.

Turn to God = Repentance.

Turn away from God = Idolatry.

In a world full of conveniences, the lines between God and idols are blurry at best - at least, in the world's eyes - but not in God's. The man-made conveniences and solutions of the world create an environment of dependence. Dependence is directly associated with trust, and, God made no allowance for misplaced trust:

“You must not have any other god but me. [Exodus 20.3] 

In fact, God went on to warn against things we "make for ourselves."

“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. 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. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. [Exodus 20.4-6] 

I genuinely want to move away from my repeated and blatant accusations that debt. insurance, medicine and technology are, by very nature of what they are and what they do, idols. However, because our dependence and trust upon these things is so clear, I cannot claim to submit to God and His Word and also defend our dependence upon these man-made solutions. I simply cannot "turn to" both God and idols.

To "turn to" something includes "turning away" from something. It is impossible to turn to something without turning away from something else. Impossible.

Let us all cry out, "Jesus!" The New Covenant will make it all better, right?

Here is what our New-Covenant-Bringer, Jesus, said:

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money. [Matthew 6.24]

Isn't it ironic that debt, insurance, medicine and technology, all worldly solutions we depend on daily, involve so much money? But, that's just a coincidence, right? It's hard to use Jesus to justify our actions when He made the following demand:

Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. [Luke 9.23]

Do we take up (turn to) our idols daily to preserve and improve our lives, or take up (turn to) our cross daily and follow Jesus? We cannot turn to one without turning away from the other. 

According to Luke's Gospel (as well as Matthew's and Mark's) Jesus said:

If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. [Luke 9.24]

If debt, insurance, medicine and technology aren't the very act of "hanging on to our lives", then, I don't know what is!

Father, help me - help us, to remove the blinders from our eyes that prevent us from seeing the truth of Your Word regarding the things we take up or turn to instead of our cross every day... May we be found genuinely convicted by Your Word (not my words) and respond accordingly in true "turning to You" repentance. So be it.