Pride
"Their land has also been filled with idols; They worship the work of their hands, That which their fingers have made." - Isaiah 2:8
An idol is anything we place in a high position in our life and trust in more than God. Our jobs, our families, our bank accounts and our retirement plans can be coveted golden calves. We can begin to think that without them we can't make it or we wouldn't be as important. We can look to them for security and bragging rights when we should be looking to God.
Before we know it, we can become prideful about the places we work or our child's latest test score. We can begin to feel empowered by external things of the world. Empowered to the point that we close ourselves off to other possibilities. Typically, it doesn't happen on purpose. It's like pouring molasses from a jar. Slowly, we trust more and more in worldly things instead of in our Father. We find more pride in worldy things than in the fact that we are a child of the Most High God. I am guilty. I have found myself in a place of finding more comfort in a person or place rather than placing my trust where it belongs--with God.
I have to ask myself, if all the things I find pride in were taken away, would I be shattered? Would I think less of myself? Or would I remain confident in the person God has created me to be? I want to say I would choose the latter.
If we want to follow the will of God, He may ask us to lay things down that make our hearts prideful to the point of sin. He may ask us to step away from relationships and safe havens. Remember when God changed Simon's name to Peter. He renamed him and reassigned him. His new name was symbolic of who God was calling him to be, "a rock" on which God would build his church. He called Sarai--Sarah--to signify that she would be "mother of many nations." God asked people to leave their past behind and become something new in Him. He reinvented people then, and I believe He still does it now.
Is he wanting to change your name? Is he wanting to reinvent and redefine you? What or who do you need to leave behind to step into what He has for you?
My Pastor, Bobby Gourley, recently preached a series on laying things down that we shouldn't be carrying. He preached on how hard it can be to lay something down that means so much. He talked about walking away from certain people in order for God to take us to the next level. He clarified that he wasn't talking about leaving spouses, but sometimes we remain in other types of relationships that end up hindering us and our destiny.
Comfort zones are called just that for a reason, right? Being in a place of comfort can stunt growth. It doesn't take too much faith to be comfortable. God wants to stretch us, teach us, and mold us to be more like Jesus. Jesus did not live a comfortable life, but he lived an amazing, history altering life that continues on to this very day.
I am ready to lay down my idols and "graven images." I am ready for God to reinvent me which calls for the stepping out in faith. We all crave security, but we find it in the wrong people, places and things. I want to find my only secrurity to rest in the Creator of the Universe!
When we are obedient and do as God asks us our hands are wide open to receive His best for us! I want my hands to always be open...and not clinging to anything that is not of him and his glory!
Father, thank you for loving me the way you do. Thank you for being a good Father who wants nothing but the best for his children. Thank you for guiding my life and my heart. Thank you for dealing with the selfishness in my heart and removing false idols and golden calves. Thank you for girding me up with the strength needed to trust in you. Help me to identify any ares of my life that I still need to totally surrender to you. May your will always supercede my own. In Jesus name. Amen.
