Faith “Making” God or Idols - 40 Day Journey with
Martin Luther – Day 6 - Purity 1279
Purity 1279 02/20/2024 Purity 1279 Podcast
Purity 1279 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of the sun shining bright over the
Dockside Diner, while its rays transform a fountain into a blazing cross-like
flower and create a light pathway on surface of Echo Lake, comes to us from
yours truly as I took a moment yesterday to capture this scene and to bask in
the sunshine after two days of rain, while on vacation on planet Disney World
since Friday.
While it may not be a “whole new world”, it is different
reality down here, and while I have enjoyed the fun Disney World has to offer,
and even had a real moment of appreciation for how Walt Disney’s vision has positively
impacted generations, I am struck with melancholy when I realize that the world
broken by sin can’t be saved by “just our imaginations” or our hopes and dreams
or even our best efforts and that as
wonderful as this place is in some aspects it is quite terrible and perhaps
even sinister in others. Beyond the
materialism and selling of potent potables, merch, toys, and thrills for
circumstantial happiness, the concepts and symbols that hold the spirit of
anti-Christ are at times hard to ignore. For example, dragons are a symbol of
the enemy and there are lots here.
But instead of rallying against the EVIL today, I
will focus on the good and realize that this place was created for people to
come to have some fun and express their love for one another by sharing their
experiences together and remembering more innocent times from their childhoods. And when I see the love that parents have for
their children and families have for each other, it gives me hope that they may
already know the love of the Lord or one day could. The evil and the harsh realities of the
world can’t be escaped from, but they can be overcome through the love of God
that is found when we put our faith in Jesus.
So with that hope, we seek to draw closer to the Lord in the season that
prepares us for the celebration of Christ’s resurrection, Lent.
It’s the sixth day of Lent and so we continue my
personal walkthrough of Gracia Grindal’s 40 Day Journey with Martin Luther
to observe and celebrate the Lenten season.
In this walkthrough Grindal’s devotional, it is our hope that we will get to know
Martin Luther a little better as we seek to draw closer to the Lord on our
journey to Resurrection Sunday – Easter.
And so we continue.
“Journey
Day 6
YOU
ARE TO HAVE NO other Gods.
What
is this?
Answer:
We are to fear, love, and trust God above all things.
A
"god" is the term for that to which we are to look for all good and
in which we are to find refuge in all need. Therefore, to have a god is nothing
else than to trust and believe in that one with your whole heart. As I have
often said, it is the trust and faith of the heart alone that make both God and
an idol. If your faith and trust are right, then your God is the true one.
Conversely, where your trust is false and wrong, there you do not have the true
God. For these two belong together, faith and God. Anything on which your heart
relies and depends, I say, that is really your God.
BIBLICAL WISDOM
Then
God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the
land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before
me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything
that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the
water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I
the Lord your God am a jealous God... Exodus 20:1-5a
SILENCE FOR MEDITATION
QUESTIONS TO PONDER
•
How is it possible that our faith and trust can
"make both God and an idol"?
I don’t like that phrasing, “make both God and an
idol” when it is removed from the overall context of Luther’s statement because
nothing we do “makes God” – He is self-existent and completely holy (set apart,
different) but as Luther points out in his previous statement to “to have a god
is nothing else than to trust and believe in that one with your whole heart”
and what we put our faith in – whether the One True God revealed in the pages
of the Bible or some other created concept or thing becomes “our god”. So faith in Yahweh, Jesus, and the Holy
Spirit – makes the One True God of the Bible “our God” while faith in Buddha,
money, ourselves, our families, our job, or any other false religion makes
those things “our god”, small g, – or more accurately “our idol”. While our faith makes something “our personal
God (big G) or god/idol ( little g), it doesn’t make God who He is.
•
What are some of the things (idols) our culture
encourages us to place our faith and trust in?
As I included in my list above, our culture encourages
us to put our faith in ourselves, our families, our jobs, our money. My western
society tends to distrust or deny the supernatural, so self-sufficiency is the
biggest idol in my culture here in the United States. Governments, political
parties, individual philosophies, institutions, and corporations are a close second.
•
We are instructed to both "fear" and
"love" God. In practical terms, what do you think it means to fear
God? To love God?
To fear
God is to respect Him and His wisdom and power, and quite frankly to really
fear the judgment He will bring to those who are not safe in Christ. To love Him is to know Him and the fact that
He is good, righteous, just, and holy, and that beyond those attributes is His
love for us. To Fear and to Love God is to know Him, to Trust Him, and to Obey
and Follow Him.
PSALM FRAGMENT
Their
idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do
not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do
not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; they make
no sound in their throats. Those who make them are like them; so are all who
trust in them. Psalm 115:4-8
JOURNAL REFLECTIONS
•
God wants to be in relationship with us. Describe in
your journal how you experience your relationship with God at this time.
I experience my relationship as my constant companion
through life. I blog, pray and read His word each day to stay in His presence.
I pray to talk to Him. I try to obey what His word instructs us to do and try
to encourage others to seek Him. I spend
my days “walking and talking to God” because I have known His love and
experienced His presence. He never leaves us, but you have to spend time with Him
to know He is there. My relationship with God defines who I am.
•
Write about how the fear and love of God work
themselves out in your daily life.
The fear of the Lord causes me to want to do what is
right. The love of the Lord gives me the motivation to continue to do it. Only His love would change a rebel like me
and because He first loved me and has demonstrated and revealed His truth and
love for me, I now try to abide in His Presence every day.
•
It has been said that "the human heart is a
factory of idols." In your journal, describe any idols that have been
manufactured in your own heart's factory. What kind of "worship" do
they demand of you? What would you need to do to be free of these idols?
My self-sufficiency is still a big idol. Although some
self-sufficiency is unavoidable because the world demands we work and support
ourselves, I will often not seek help because
I think I can do things “by myself” but God often humbles me to reveal how
inadequate I am in myself and I now more readily will admit when I can’t do
something and need help. Food is still
an idol as well, as a part of me still wrongly associates food with comfort or
pleasure and has demonstrated my lack of self-control over it during this
vacation. I will be in full repentance mode when I return back to normal,
thanks be to God.
PRAYERS FOR THE LIFE OF FAITH
Pray
for yourself, your family, and your friends that they will put their faith
wholly in the one true God and put away all their idols.
Lord, I pray that I, my family and friends will all
put our faith in You, the One True and Only God, and put away all our idols. In
Jesus’ Name, Amen.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Lord,
cast out those idols in my heart that captivate me and draw me from you. Give
me the faith to put all my trust in you alone. Amen.
(Gracia M. Grindal. 40-day Journey With Martin Luther. Kindle Edition.)
(We encourage you to purchase Grindal’s book and take the 40 Day Journey with Martin Luther for yourself by purchasing Grindal’s book wherever books are sold. You can find it online at many different sites and purchase it new, used – paper or electronic for less than $15.00).
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For
those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide,
I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
Today’s
Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By
John G. Kruis.
(
While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick
Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late
author’s work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )
This
morning’s meditation verse comes from the section on Communication, Gossip, and
Lying.
Proverbs 15:4 (NASB)
4 A soothing tongue is a tree
of life, But perversion in it crushes the spirit.
Today’s
verse is the second of two passages of scripture that fall under the fifteenth point
of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Communication, Gossip, and
Lying.
15. A word aptly
spoken and a wise rebuke can be very helpful to others.
Today’s
verse reminds us that life and death lie in the power of the tongue (Proverbs
18:21) by giving us the analogy of a soothing tongue being a tree of life, whereas
a “perverse” tongue being one that crushes the spirit. According to MacArthur’s commentary – perverse
here means to “wound” or “break”, thus, to destroy one’s moral. And that’s how negative words crush the spirit
they take away our hope. So speak
soothing words of truth that will guide others to submit to God and to have the
hope of life eternal that comes though faith in Christ.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from “According to Your
Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament” By Stephen F. Olford – A
Collection of Devotional Journals: 1940-1941.
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage you all to purchase Olford’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available online
for less than $10 at many sites.
MORNING READING: MARK 11
“Have faith in God.” – Mark 11:22
The writer to the Hebrews says, “Without faith, it is
impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and
that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6).
It follows then that without this faith, it is impossible
to earn the Divine attestation: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased” (Matt. 3:17, emphasis mine), or “Well done, good and faithful servant”
(Matt. 25:21).
Faith, in the sense of the above text, is not an attribute
of God, but His essential nature. Therefore, only those who are partakers of
God's divine nature are possessors of it. Moreover, it is increased as Christ
(who is God's nature) is formed in me.
Lord, increase my faith. I believe,
help my unbelief.[1]
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage
Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the
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at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts
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These teachings are also available on the
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Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and
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My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian
encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ), her
Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on
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“The views, opinions, and commentary of this
publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to
reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries,
or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication,
and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the
author may represent.”
Encouragement
for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1]
Stephen Olford and Heather Olford, According to Your
Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament, A Collection of Devotional
Journals 1940-1941 (Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 2008).