So, my dear friends,
flee from the worship of idols. You are reasonable people. Decide for yourselves if
what I am saying is true. When
we bless the cup at the Lord’s Table, aren’t we sharing in the blood of Christ?
And when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ? 1
Corinthians 10:14-16
I wear a charm of a gold cross around my neck. It is a symbol not to tell others that I am
Christian. It is a reminder to me of my
commitment to Christ. I have worn it now
for nearly fifteen years, which is when I first was born again. Every so often, I will look in the mirror and
stare at it. The design of it is simply
beautiful, but it is not relevant. It is
but a symbol. Not an idol.
Many on this holy week are deeply saddened by the burning of
the church of Notre Dame. Others are equally
distraught by the burning of African American churches by a man in
Louisiana. Both are indeed tragic, but I
had to ask myself. What really matters? Does a church burning in one place bare less
significance than another? How would God
view these? It has nothing to do with
who goes to which church. It has
everything to do with people being displaced from the place where they praised
God. I must remember that the buildings
are symbols of God, but they are not God.
That’s how you know whether your heart represents Him and not an idol of
His.
We must focus on our heart with God to be able to discern a
symbol from an idol. There are many
verses that speak about God disliking our worship of false idols. In today’s verses, it speaks of something
that is very easy to fall into the trap of symbolism becoming idolization. When we say grace at meal time, do we think
of it as sacred time to give thanks to God or just a ritual before we eat? My wife and me push our children to say
grace. Even our grandchildren including
the little ones say it. It’s not because
they are at the point where they have this deep relationship with Christ. Instead, it is preparing them so when they
ultimately make the decision to follow Him, they will go to Him with their
hearts open and body filled with His spirit.
A pastor did something that really helped me make it more intimate than
ritualistic. In saying grace, he would
pray for those who helped prepare the meal.
Whether it be my wife at home, family members at an outing, members at
church, or the people at the local restaurant, it forces me to focus on those
around me as a reminder that it is never about me. It’s always about God and my neighbors. This is how it became a symbol of my faith
instead of a ritual of just words. This
is not to say everyone needs to change how they say grace. What it says is we are to always check our
faith meter whenever we do something.
Whether saying grace at the table, worshiping at church, or reading
God’s word, we must always ensure we are understanding its intent and not just
‘going through the motions.’
There is a clear distinction between the relationship with
and the things that represent God. As we
focus on Easter, we must remember to reflect on the love Jesus Christ had for
us on the cross. Not that He just died
there for us. Remember He rose to glory
to show us a pathway to a relationship with Him. Not that He just overcame death for our sins. Our goal is to make clear our relationship
with God has meaning and is not just saving grace for if the distinction seems
blurry, we may very well have fallen out of the love for God and ventured into
the love of those things that represent Him.
Jesus said, “For where two or three gather together as my
followers, I am there among them.”
We can appreciate the structure for its beauty. Let’s not lose sight of what the church
really is; the parishioners. What aspect
of your life needs an awakening? How can
you better distinguish between something representing God vs. it becoming
God? My prayer is that in all we do, we
focus on representing Him and not idolizing the things of Him. Amen.
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