On Sunday, my team held our own church service. We worshiped and then watched an online sermon by Pastor Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church. Melissa’s sister, Emily lead us to this sermon, and I am so happy she did. We were reading through the book of Ephesians already, so it worked perfect. This sermon is the first in a series, going through the book of Ephesians in search of our true identity in Christ, learning to not let idols/lies define who we are and eliminating those idols from our life.
“Idols make promises they never keep”
IDOLS can be broken down into categories:
- I- Items
- D- Duties
- O- Others
- L- Longings
- S- Sufferings
I found that I was guilty of idolatry in each category. Some more severely than others, but all categories, nonetheless. I will go through all 5 of these categories and hopefully share of the freedom through Christ I experience and how abolishing this idolatry helps me get closer to finding my true identity in Christ.
"Lies never bring life, they only bring death. You need an identity that is eternal because you are.”
The first category- items. This seems like the most common thought when people think of idolatry. It is known that you can put items above God and “worship” them. But in this sermon, Pastor Mark shared new points I didn’t think of. What you wear, what you have in your home, what you drive, what you do for your beauty, these are all various idolatry issues in ‘items’. There were several quotes from this part of the sermon that stuck in my mind.
“Taking a good thing and turning into a god thing.”
“You buy something you don’t need with money you don’t have to impress someone you don’t know.”
“Worshiping the creation rather than the creator.”
Time for me to get honest with you, blog readers. This category isn’t too crazy for me. If I ranked them, this would be 4th of the 5. However, I will share past struggles that God has helped me with also.
Current Issues for me:
- I wear make-up a lot. It’s something that I enjoy wearing and I think is fun. However, I used to use it as a tool to make myself look different than what I really look like. I was uncomfortable with myself and tried to change my apperance.
- I really want a cute pair of brown boots and another pair of oxfords. I really like shoes.
How God is helping me eliminate them or issues He has eliminated already:
- I am in the process of not needing make-up or being able to enjoy it rather than use it to change me. I'm in the process of becoming completely comfortable in my own skin and loving the way that God made me. I feel like I am almost there. God is still working on my insecurity.
- Things are just that- things. This is a lesson that God keeps showing me. I am realizing it more and more each day. There aren’t many things that I want, and the boots and oxfords are things I can live without and I am totally aware of that. I just need to quit wanting them when I see them.
- I loved my jeep. I thought it was the cutest vehicle in the entire world. Turns out, God wanted me to sell it to go on the race. I did and it was a huge blessing! (blog about it here) I don’t know what I will drive when I get back to the states, but the coolest part is that God does! He has a great plan for me and knows exactly what He has in store.
(Disclaimer: I want to be very honest on my blog and share my struggles and journey to rid myself from all idolatry. I'm allowing myself to be exposed. Luckily, this post was shorter and didn’t have too many crazy secrets or emotions flowing out because it is a category I stuggle with least. But, there are other categories of idols and I am slightly nervous about sharing, but I know that God wants me to. So later this week, I will post part 2- duties. and this category is the biggest one for me…)
