Thursday, February 2, 2012

God or gods? (52 in 52)

For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.  Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and glory are in His sanctuary. 
Psalms 96:4-6

So, what is a god? With a little g, not a big G.  I know who God is.  He's my Father, my Creator, my Lord. He is my Hope.

But a god? What is that? Or who is that? Of course, I know the context in which it was used in this Biblical setting.  They were the gods of the nations - the idols the people worshiped. But God's scripture is alive, right? So, in today's context, what is a god?

That question could be answered different ways depending on who you asked. Some people may treat their job as a god; it's an idol that they worship and honor above all else. Some people may treat their spouse as a god, someone who they idolize in an unhealthy manner. And the answers continue: money, children, beauty, possessions, houses, etc. Is it wrong to like these things and enjoy them?  Most definitely not! I like money and the things that it allows me to have. However, if I put money (and making money) before everything else in my life, it would be my god, right?  These gods are only idols. When we idolize these things, they can quickly ruin our lives on so many levels.

Let's think about the big G now - our God, our Maker, our Lord. He made the heavens. I love that part of the verse! It's such a kick in the face to the little g gods. It's like, "Those gods, they're just idols made my men! But my God, my Father - HE MADE THE HEAVENS!!!" Amazing.

That was my verse for this week of 52 in 52. And although I've been working on memorizing this verse all week, it's taken on a whole new meaning today. It's so easy to let our lives get wrapped up in gods, in idols. But we must take a moment and realize the great reality of our lives. We were created by our God, and He's the same one that made the heavens. He is great and most worthy of praise!!!


You have a choice. You either worship gods, or you worship God.  Which do you choose?



(In other, very unrelated, news...I went running today! 2 miles. I was pretty slow (blah!), but my knees feel fine. Tomorrow will be a 1 mile run. Loving this spring-like weather!)



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1 comment:

  1. LOVE this! We talked about this with the kids the other day, about how ANYTHING you put before God, even good things are an idol. And, I keep meaning to tell you we started our 52 in 52 as a family, focusing on the promises of God, and even Jude is memorizing the verses! What a blessing it is to hear his sweet little voice claiming God's promises! He knows 5 already, and we started number 6 tonight!

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