Anything but God By Paul Chappell Tuesday, Dec 16, 2014 “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.” Romans 1:21–23 Every year at this time we hear the stories of lawsuits being filed to remove manger scenes and any other indication of religious observance from public places. Schools remove Christmas carols from their programs so they don’t get in trouble, and stores instruct their cashiers not to say “Merry Christmas” to avoid giving offense to some of their customers. What is behind this change? It is at heart part of man’s continuing rebellion against God. The God of the Bible demands worship for Himself alone as is His right as Sovereign and Creator. “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images” (Isaiah 42:8). This is not a popular message in our anything goes culture, and so people are turning to all sorts of alternatives to avoid worshiping God. Of course we are too sophisticated to erect graven images to worship—instead we worship cars and money and fame and pleasure. But it is no less idolatry because it lacks a physical representation to which people bow down. We sometimes hear about a “war on Christmas” but what is really going on is a war on God. The proper response for us is not to go to war but to go to worship and witness. When our hearts are right with God and our evangelism is strong, we will see fruit in our society. Remember that with just ten righteous people Sodom would have been spared—but Lot’s desire for prosperity was stronger than his heart for God, and tragedy came as a result. Today’s Renewal Principle: The world can ignore the meaning of Christmas,...
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 10:58:32 +0000