The very idea of making false gods sounds silly to our postmodern minds. We find it difficult to believe that there is a God at all, let alone making up a bunch of false gods. A lot of us would admit that we find prayer hard and we primarily read our bibles only when something has gone wrong in our lives, and we need to turn to Psalm 23 for some much-needed comfort. Its not the making of false gods that we struggle with in the 21st century. Right?
I remember speaking to a man who was telling me how much he loves and respects Jesus. As we continued talking however, it turned out that this man did not believe in the deity of Jesus, nor that Jesus was the only savior of the world, nor that he rose from the dead! I asked him, “Then how can you say you love Jesus if you deny everything that Jesus claimed about himself?” I said to this man, “You love an image of Jesus that you have fashioned and formed. You do not love the Jesus who actually is.”
This man had made a false god and named it Jesus. He had created a god in his own image and worshiped it. The temptation for us to do the same is very real. It is not uncommon for us to hear someone say, “To me, Jesus is…” and then fill in the blank with just about anything you want. Are we zealous for the Jesus who was prophesied in the Old Testament, revealed in the Gospels, and preached in the Epistles? Or do we want a wax-nose Jesus who can be molded and shaped to look as we want it to?
Father, I do not love you as I ought. I have broken the second commandment and made for myself false gods. Open now my eyes so that I can see you for how you really are - supremely glorious.
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