Wednesday February 21
One of
the recurring challenges as Christians is, I think, the goal of not letting the
world around us control us. We’re meant to be “in the world, not of the world”
– a much-used phrase in Christian circles, and perhaps sometimes misapplied to
mean that we should have as little to do with the material world as possible.
Christ’s mission for us, his disciples, is the opposite of that. As he himself
says in John 17:14-19: As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into
the world.
The part
about not being “of the world” is a warning not to let the things in this world
– success, money, power, material possessions and even relationships – become
burdens…idols…that hold us back from doing Christ’s work. On our path to find
true fulfilment that only a life dedicated to God can give, we can easily get
distracted by those idols. At first glance, they seem to be a source of
happiness and fulfilment, and much easier to obtain too!
Tim
Keller describes these idols in his book Counterfeit
Gods as: anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs
your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what
only God can give…An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of
hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I ‘ll know I
have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.”
There
are many ways to describe that kind of relationship to something, but perhaps
the best one is worship.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul tells them
that “Christ has set us free to
live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of
slavery on you.” In this time of Lent, I would ask that we take time to
contemplate our idols…the harnesses of slavery…and I pray we may see them for
what they are: of this world and not worthy of our worship.
Staat dan in de vrijheid, met welke ons Christus
vrijgemaakt heeft, en wordt niet wederom met het juk der dienstbaarheid
bevangen.
Christ nous a rendus libres pour que nous connaissions
la vraie liberté. C’est pourquoi tenez bon et ne vous mettez pas à nouveau sous
le joug de l’esclavage.
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