Thought for Thursday, March 1st

March 1, 2012

Let It Go

And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Exodus  20:1-6

Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you. And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;  (For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

Deuteronomy 4:23-31

Quote of the Day

“Four species of idols beset the human mind; idols of the tribe, idols of the den; idols of the market; and idols of the theatre.” – Francis Bacon

Today’s Thoughts and Insights

Figuratively speaking: if we are Christians, God has brought us all out of our own Egypt (that place of captivity called sin and death) and He has brought us into the promise land of life and hope in Him: yet we like the generations of old; often have our own idols that we have allowed to take His place in our hearts and in our lives.

For some it is their job, their career, a bank account, or retirement fund: while for others it is a past time or hobby; for still yet others it is an object (like a television or a boat), while for still others it is an old tradition that has been held onto for years past it’s useful life expectancy.

Anything that stands between us or gets more of our attention than God does has more than likely become a type of idol in our lives.

God told us in the first commandment to have no other god’s before Him: so do you ever wonder why we don’t take Him seriously?

Often, for many, they don’t even realize they have allowed these things to become their gods.  Yet when it comes time to serve Him these others things demand our attention and consume our time. 

Remember no object, tradition, objective or ambition will ever give you what God has.  

Maybe it’s time to reassess our priorities and maybe, just maybe there might be a need to reorder the items of significance in our lives and maybe God needs to be put back at the top of the list.

Any thing that stands between you and a more fulfilling relationship with Him is something you need to give up and just let go of.

Today’s Prayer

Father you are jealous and rightfully so: you have given us everything and so often we give you so little in return.  You deserve not only our highest praise, but you also deserve our unrestrained love and service.  Help me to be more aware of those things I let come between us and help me to reprioritize my life so that you are always first and foremost in all I do.

“Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.”

– Mark Twain (From ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’)

“Let the poor man say
I am rich in Him
Let the lost man say
I am found in Him
Let the blind man say
I can see again
Let the dead man say
I am born again
Holy Spirit come
Move in power“

- from ‘Let The River Flow’ by Darrell Evans