Just in my short time in India, I saw more idols and altars than I have probably have ever seen in my life. At first it’s interesting, there were so many of them- they literally come in all different shapes, colors and sizes- and then you think really think about how many of them there are. Hundreds. In Hinduism there are over 330 million gods. How crazy is that? You would die of old age before being able to name them all.
One day, I had the chorus of I Am Set Free by All Sons and Daughters stuck in my head, playing over and over throughout the day. I didn’t think much of it since I was just learning it on the guitar earlier that morning. But then in an auto ride back to where we were staying at night after ministry, the words struck me. “I am set free, I am set free. It is for freedom that I am set free.” Such simple and clear lyrics that I really hadn’t dwelt much on until that moment. But how amazingly freeing is it to not have to have a different god for every little thing in life, not to be constantly sacrificing to and worshipping in just a far hope of being in favor with them. How blessed I am to know true freedom in Christ. I have been set free.
One of my squad leaders, Bethany, and I were talking about Abraham and Isaac. She shared another perspective on the story. Yes, It was by Abraham’s faith that God saved Isaac but also God was showing how He is not like the other gods. It was common for gods in that time to require human sacrifice of the first born. So for God to tell Abraham to do this was not a foreign concept to him but to have God spare his only son and provide the ram from slaughter instead, was a way for God to set himself apart. He is not like all of these gods I see here It’s not by works, offerings, sacrificing that you are set free. It’s by His grace, through salvation, that we can know true freedom in Christ.
Are you free? In America we may not have big fancy idols and altars of false gods lining our streets, but we make our own idols in the form of careers, relationships, activities, etc, that take their place and it all looks the same from God’s perspective.
“They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble. Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,'” Isaiah 46:7-10
