Week three of defeating idols that battle for your heart brings us to the god of entertainment.

Jesus My Passion

The god of entertainment promised us a circus. And in our adult world, which can be gray and drab, filled with obligations and responsibilities, that sounded pretty good.

We looked for attractions and surprises and amusements to create in us a sense of wonder. Maybe we would find it in music or in movies or in games or in sports. The god of entertainment was hawking them all, like a carnival barker: “Step right up! Be amazed, be amused! Come one! Come all!

But in the end, the music was flat, the movies were formulaic, and the games were rigged. The circus would leave town and we wait impatiently for another one to take its place. 

Then we found our passion in Jesus. If you haven’t experienced it for yourself, I get that it sounds ridiculous—how could a dusty old Bible character compete with big budget movies or action-packed games or soulful tunes? But once you know Jesus and passionately pursue him, it seems ridiculous that we thought we could ever find what we wanted on a movie screen, a website, or a playlist.

Jesus said in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

In this section of the book, the author breaks down the word amusement and what it actually means blew me away. It is the lack of inspiration, the lack of reflection. The actual definition is a pastime, play, game, anything which pleasantly diverts the attention. So we seek amusement because we don’t want to think.

I encourage you to dig deep in this area. Do you find yourself seeking entertainment to simply divert your attention away from things causing you stress? If the answer is yes, maybe it is time to turn to God, letting Him walk you through the process of healing things you prefer not to think about.

Welcome to week two of defeating the idols that battle for your heart. The following writings come from Kyle Idleman’s book, “Gods at War”. I encourage you to read this book for yourself to dig deeper into areas God may be wanting to pierce your heart, creating in you a clean heart.

Jesus My Satisfaction

The god of sex promised us satisfaction, yet he left us lonely and ashamed.

He lured and enticed us by distorting what was designed to be a gift and a blessing. He made it seem as if nothing could be more satisfying than the quick release of physical urges. Yet nothing could have left us feeling smaller and weaker — as if those urges defined who we were, as if we were beasts of the field and no more.

Then we came to Jesus, who offers the greatest joy imaginable — so much greater and fuller than any physical impulse. We could see for the first time that the pursuit of the god of sex was never about love at all. It reduced others to mere objects to be used for our personal pleasure. But the love of Jesus finds its greatest satisfaction in service rather than use of others. It exalts them. It affirms them as children of God. It connects with them in body, soul, mind, and spirit, rather than simple base instinct. 

Jesus is our satisfaction. All along, it was intimacy we really wanted, and he gives us that. When we have a love relationship with him, an unending honeymoon commences. Christ grows more wonderful to us every day.

Not that sex is put aside. On the contrary, it takes on a beauty and resonance we never could have imagined — the opposite of shame. We have been designed so that the level of intimacy we can have with our spouse is directly related to the depth of intimacy we have with Christ. Sexual intimacy as God designed it takes a human relationship to a whole new level, because we’re not using one another; we’re delighting in one another. The god of sex dehumanized us; Christ restores our wholeness and makes the two of us one flesh — so much the greater than the sum of our parts — as we seek him together.

The god of sex offers a counterfeit joy that becomes more elusive through time, ever harder to please, ever closer to emptiness. But the love of Christ only opens up to deeper joys, becoming ever greater.

Sexual pleasure, rightly viewed, is a rich gift that shows how much God loves us. But its ecstasy is only a foretaste of divine glory, a hint of the eternal pleasure of knowing, loving, and serving Christ. He is our true satisfaction.

For the next nine weeks, I will be sharing the closing statements from one of the most eye opening books I have ever read on idols. Gods at War by Kyle Idleman digs deep into becoming aware of and defeating the idols that battle for our hearts. I encourage you to read this book for yourself to take a closer look and discover what areas in life you could be making an idol. Kyle states, “Idols are defeated not by being removed but by being replaced.” Isn’t it time to replace the things that are devouring our souls with the very God that is the lover of our souls?

Jesus My Portion

The god of food promised us a feast, but we came up empty. He invited us to consume until it consumed our lives. We tasted everything until nothing had taste anymore.

And so finally we came to Jesus. We discovered that he offers the one true feast. He fills our every need. Every hunger ultimately leads back to him.

David wrote, “Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure” (Psalms 16:5).

Jesus frees us from abusive, dysfunctional relationship with food because he is our portion and in him we discover what we were searching for all along. If we seek joy and meaning in food, then the source of our joy always disappears and always must be found again–a consumable god. It is different with Jesus.

Nothing tastes better than the joy and satisfaction of knowing Christ. Nothing nourishes the soul as he does. Nothing feeds and strengthens and renews us like the time we spend with him each day.

He bids us to take and eat. He bids us to come to the well where he offers living water, so that we never thirst again.

Think of a time when you’ve come in from the hot sun, drenched with sweat and with a parched throat, and downed a cool glass of ice water. Did anything ever taste better?

Such a moment is no more than a vague hint of what it feels like to be spiritually starving and to be given the bread of life, to have a thirsty soul and to drink deep from his living water.

Ironically, it is only when we find our meaning in Christ, when he takes the throne of our lives, that earthly food recovers its taste, its delight. In its right place food is a great gift from God.

We live in a world that defines our success, our importance, our worth, etc., by what we possess externally. So it comes as no surprise when I have a conversation with someone and find that they are consumed with comparing their life to those around them. As I sat and listened, I realized that most people don’t see that the very act of comparing is a trap the enemy uses to destroy us. It takes our focus off of the blessings God has given and leads to jealousy. God blesses each and every one of his children in unique ways and by comparing what God gives us to what he gives to someone else is not healthy. It takes us down a road of destruction and destroys our hearts from the inside out. Once the heart is affected, our actions follow suit and we become consumed. It is a fire that destroys everything in its wake.

I have sat back and watched people lie, cheat, and steal in an attempt to gain something they think will make them happy, yet lose everything important in the process. What good is it to gain the world if you lose your soul? To Satan, it is the greatest victory. To God, it breaks his heart.

So how do we protect ourselves from falling into the comparison trap?

1. Set boundaries. For example, if you know that by looking at someone else’s Facebook page you will compare their life to your own, leaving you longing for what they have that you don’t, stop visiting their page. Remove them from your news feed. We can control what we put into our minds so be good to your heart by protecting it from things the enemy will use to tempt you.
2. Be thankful. When was the last time you sat down and compiled a list of all the blessings God has given specifically to you? By doing this simple exercise, it shifts our focus onto what we do have instead of what we don’t. Thankfulness cultivates a grateful heart.
3. Be patient. God wants to give us the desires He put in our hearts. By waiting on Him to provide what is best for us in His timing, we become content. We can anticipate the blessing without taking ourselves down a road of destruction in an attempt to possess something He isn’t ready to give us.
4. Trust in the process. Have you ever thought that maybe God isn’t giving you something because you aren’t ready to receive it? His ultimate goal is our character. He wants us to look like Him and that process takes time. Until we are content with what we do have, we don’t have the capacity to experience the joy He provides when His blessings do come.
5. Remember that God is a jealous God. He wants all the glory for the riches He provides to His children. If we are stuck in a place of giving ourselves credit for our success, our wealth, and whatever else we hold dear, He will find a way to remind us that He is the God of our lives, not us. And on the flip side, when we come to a place where we give God all the credit, His blessings seem to overflow!

So next time you are driving past that neighborhood, tempted to drive through to take a look at all the beautiful houses…or you feel the urge to go look at that new car your best friend just bought that you would die for…or you just want to scroll through that person’s Facebook page that seems to have everything you don’t, STOP. Remind Satan that he is a liar and that God is good and worthy of your praise and you refuse to let comparison kill your contentment!

Christmas Day is a day to celebrate the greatest gift we were ever given, Jesus. Today as I reflect on the depths of the importantance of God sending his son, I realize that everything he places in our lives is always given with a devine purpose in mind. Jesus was sent to be the hope of the world and save us from our sins, giving us eternal life. Every Christian has heard this hundreds of times but today God put it on my heart that sometimes the things we see as a burden are actually put in our lives to refine us. As I meditated on this, it made me think about specific people and stressors I have dealt with in my life. Some of my greatest accomplishments in my walk with Christ are the result of a very trying situation. He has used those trials to benefit me in the best way possible.

So as I think about my relationship with the mother of my bonus sons, I have to stop and try to see things from a godly perspective. I never dreamed of blending two families and wanting to take on the hurt and anger that would follow from their mom. No woman ever imagines that the blessing of a second chance at love will be the source of so much hurt from someone on the outside. But by choosing to love a man and his children from a previous marriage, this was my reality. I now realize that by choosing to love the boys and my husband, I was also choosing to love her. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want to love her. I actually hated her for her choices and hurtful words. But then a few years ago, God gave me insight to her heart. Ever since that day, I have prayed for wisdom and guidance when issues arise. I have prayed that I would guard my tongue and take my hurts to Christ instead of spewing them onto her, adding to her pain and suffering. Today I now see that learning how to love like Christ requires us to be put in a situation where we are taught how to do so. I am not perfect and I am guilty of hurting her, blaming it on her behaviors. But if I am honest with myself, it was my choice to choose hurt over love. She is not my enemy. She is a daughter of the King just like me and she deserves my love because I love God.

It is no accident that God chose this man, his children and their mother to add to my life. Just like the birth of Jesus brought us eternal life, the birth of my new marriage and new children brought with them the birth of a new heart.

Jesus,
Thank you for placing each and every one of them in my life. Your ways are definitely not my ways and I am in awe. You turn the worst situations into something beautiful everytime I choose to listen and follow you. Please continue to mold me into your image, even if it means I have to suffer in order to become more like you. Amen!