By Joanne Liaw Sook Ling (21st Aug
2013)
“Son of man, these men have taken
their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity
before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? (Ezekiel 14:3)
We have embarked on a very long journey
walking through the ‘Counterfeit Gods’ poems which were inspired by one of
Timothy Keller’s bestselling books. Let us now take a step back and reflect on
the discoveries that we have made throughout that journey. The sinful human
heart is an idol factory which is actively and constantly manufacturing
numerous assorted idols. God in his great mercy sent his most beloved Son,
Jesus Christ, into the world to take on the punishment of our sins upon the
cross. We are unworthy sinners who turned away from God and deserved his
judgment of eternal death in hell. But God loved us too much to leave us
hanging by a thread. As unlovable and undeserving as we are, God chose to
forsake his precious only Son for us so that we who believe in the atoning
death of Jesus Christ could be ushered into the Kingdom of Heaven as his
beloved children. Are we then still holding on to our idolatrous desires
instead of surrendering them to the one true God? Have we been taking Jesus for
granted and investing too much hope in the false gods of our lives?
Although counterfeit gods come in many forms,
we have examined a handful of common idols such as love, money, success and
power. We have seen how the quest and yearning for human love above God’s can
lead to a downward spiral of idolatrous obsession, disillusionment and futility
in the lives of Jacob and Leah. We have looked at how the amassing of wealth to
the point of sacrificing one’s dignity, family and nation can lead to emptiness
and isolation in the life of Zacchaeus. We have come to realize the stark
limitations of success in bringing true relief and hope in the life of Naaman.
Last but not least, I believe that our eyes have been unveiled to the fact of
how we, like Nebuchadnezzar, stubbornly refuse to acknowledge God as the King
of our lives but instead strive to build our own fragile kingdoms.
After having read and written much about the
idols of the heart, I do not claim to have perfected the art of casting those
counterfeit gods away. It is one thing to grasp intellectual knowledge and
another matter to live out that knowledge. It is not the mastering of a set of
techniques or the reliance on one’s will power that will crush the
proliferating false gods of our lives. The expulsion of an idol will create a
void which will eventually be replaced with another idol. We cannot weed out
idols and leave the soil of our hearts empty in hopes that we would be
completely rid of counterfeit gods. What we need is the seed of the gospel to
be sown, with God’s love, into our hearts. We need to come as broken sinners
before the cross of Jesus Christ and say: ‘I know there are too many idols
deeply rooted in my heart which I cannot, with my own strength and dexterity,
uproot. But may this love that I have for you grow in magnitude each day until
it surpasses the love I hold for false gods. May my love for you be so deeply
rooted in the gospel of grace that it will be able to uproot the vain idols of
my heart. I know that the uprooting process will be a lifelong and painful one
but please help me to seek the relief that comes after that. Amen.’
For this is the love of God, that
we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone
who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has
overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one
who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1
John 5:3-5)
For they themselves report
concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God
from idols to serve the living and true God (1 Thessalonians 1:9)
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