ME!

Habakkuk 2:18
"What have you gained by worshiping all your man-made idols? How foolish to trust in something made by your own hands!What fools you are to believe such lies!

It is amazing the things that we hold and cling to, that we believe will get us through the hard times. The things we rely on to do for us that which is reserved for God alone. Now in the scripture above, Habakkuk is speaking of man-made idols. Carved stone and wood that has been shaped and fashioned to resemble a deity or spirit. Usually covered with gold, silver or precious stones in order to make it pleasing to the eye, these idols were very common in Habakkuk's day. Well, being common doesn't mean that they were acceptable, in fact such things brought God's wrath down on the land. Habakkuk was prophesying to the people that God was coming to overthrow their idols and sinful ways. In other words, God was bringing judgment against the nation. God will only stand for so much before he acts. Yet with his hatred for such behavior and belief, God sent his messengers, the prophets, to warn the people and to get them to repent before it was to late.

The appearance of idols in a society or nation, is an outward evidence of an inward moral decay. A rejection of God's word and of God himself, in order to embrace the spiritual darkness that sin brings to the heart. You may be thinking that I've lost my collective marbles. Why would I be writing such a thing as this and what does it have to do with who we are and where we are as a society. As a nation, we are surrounded by our idols. They may not look like what Habakkuk wrote about, but we still worship them. They may not be graven images, or carved statues set up in places of honor, but we still worship them.We bow down to them. We offer sacrifices to them, and we definitely turn to them when times are hard and we have no answer to our problems. We give our idols a place of honor that should be reserved for the God of heaven and earth alone.....what place? Our hearts. What idols? Our addiction.

Of course, the god we worship is the great god "ME". We have set ourselves up as ruler and god of our own life. "Me" knows what is best for me. "Me" is not restrained or held down by the morals we were raise with. All "Me" is concerned with is "Me." Worshiping at the fee of "Me" distorts our way of thinking and we become deceived as we offer "Me" more and more in a vain attempt to satisfy the appetite of "Me". If you find this hard to swallow, then ask yourself, "What is the common character defect among people who are addicted? The answer would be selfishness.  The great god of "Me"!

There is hope though. There is an answer to this "Me" worship. The answer is not found in a program or steps. The answer is found in an individual, Jesus Christ. Jesus came to us for one reason only......to save us from sin and ourselves. To destroy the altar and idol of "Me" because he totally knows the pain and misery that we bring to ourselves by looking to "Me" when we should be crying out to him. "Me" doesn't have my best interest at heart. It only seeks to satisfy its appetite at the expense of my very life. It will use me till I drop dead. We got news this week of another former client who was found dead. He had been told the truth about his addiction and about this Jesus. He chose to remain in the lifestyle and worship "Me". It cost him his life.

Habakkuk called the people of his day "Fools" for believing such a lie. How foolish are you today? Are you going to skim over this posting (that is if you have read it this far) and cast it aside as some sort of religious mumbo-jumbo, or are you going to open your heart up to the truth that this Jesus may just be who he claims to be, and is capable of doing what he claims he can do? Don't let "Me" drive you to an eternity of separation from God and from a life, here and now, that is totally worth living. "Me" wants only what you can do for it. God wants to bless you today, tomorrow and forever.
Think on this...........

God on you....
mb