Replacing our idols through encounter with God and the practice of worship.
The nature of our idolatry is a bit bleak, isn't it? That's a good feeling. We want to despise our idols, and how they harm us!
But we still have an unanswered question: how can we replace our idols?
First, we need to encounter God. Not have a theology that says we need to encounter God. We actually need to encounter God.
At a wedding, a pastor says to the bride and the groom, "Repeat after me," and he recites their vows. The pastor, the bride, and the groom… they all say the wedding vows, but only the bride and the groom get married to each other.
To get married, it isn't enough to say the words, you have to say them as a personal pledge to your spouse.
After we encounter God - after we see for ourselves that Jesus is altogether lovely - then we understand our purpose in life: to worship God. How could we do anything else? "He is a sea of sweetness without one drop of gall."
And that encounter with God, our First Love, allows us to see our sin for what it is: false worship. Beale gives this definition of sin. It is:
"the rearranging of existence around the self, with the result that the human self comes to be its own idolatrous creator, healer and sustainer."
Sin is the rearranging of existence around the self.
What is the antidote to this?
The antidote is to rearrange our existence around God. That's called worship.
Keller explains that this is the function of the spiritual disciplines. He writes:
"This takes what are called 'the spiritual disciplines,' such as private prayer, corporate worship, and meditation. The disciplines take cognitive knowledge and make it a life-shaping reality in our hearts and imaginations. Spiritual disciplines are basically forms of worship, and it is worship that is the final way to replace the idols of your heart."
As we consider that God is altogether lovely, I recommend that we do two things:
First, let's consider how God is altogether lovely. The inevitable result is to worship him. You can pray through the Psalms, you can read the gospels, you can go for a walk and meditate on a verse, and you can listen to worship music.
Second, we can ask our First Love to reveal the deep idols of our hearts. When we see how ugly our sin is, we want to repent of it. We repent both privately, in prayer to God, and we also confess this to a trusted friend.
God, as the Psalmist says, you are the perfection of beauty! We confess that we are created to worship you exclusively and forever. Every good thing in Creation is pointing to you, the fullness and source of all good things. We renounce our idols and we turn our hearts to you. Teach us, O God, to worship you and to love you. Break the power of our idols and free our hearts to encounter you. We want you to be our First Love!
We pray this in the name of Christ, Amen.
What spiritual disciplines have been most helpful in replacing idols with worship in your life?
How can you cultivate more genuine encounters with God rather than just theological knowledge about Him?
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