9.10.24

This week we are continuing our look at the attributes of God. And this week we are looking at his supremacy. God is our Creator and Designer, and as such, not only can call the shots for our lives, but he must - because he designed us for the very purpose of being in intimate community with him.

But we have a problem - a deep problem. Our rebellion has cut off that community. And our hearts are now predisposed to look anywhere and everywhere but to God in order to find the joy and satisfaction of our hearts. And because he designed us for that kind of external worship and intimacy, we can’t “not” look to things outside ourselves for that validation. But when we look to things besides God, they become idols - empty hopes and dreams that can never satisfy the longings of our heart.

So why do we need to make idols? As we noted last week, God designed us for a covenantal relationship. It’s one of a deep, legal commitment. And as he reminds us here, “I am the Lord your God.” We are his. We belong to him. And with that intimacy gone, that designed place of external love and validation must be placed somewhere. And so we run to idols - substitutes. But it’s also, “I am the Lord your God.” And this means that he has to be more than a motivator or an example or a genie to grant our wishes. We were designed to live under his lordship. His rule was meant to be our delight. God’s lordship isn’t merely a command he places on us. It’s how he designed us. And without that rock solid outlet, we need to find replacements to fill that role.

And what God shows us here is that when we turn to these counterfeit substitutes, they inevitably enslave us. And they pull us into their grips, not by any power they possess on their own, but by the need within us to search for love and meaning outside ourselves. And since everything in this world has the DNA of the God we were designed for, it’s pulls at us. It draws us. But it’s only a picture of that God. And as a picture, it enslaves by promising something it doesn’t have the ability to deliver.

The very nature of sin is not just to do something bad. But it’s to place that outlet for life into things besides the one we were created for. Sin is far more than breaking the rules. But it’s breaking the heart of the one we were made to be in relationship with. Sin is taking the capacity (frankly, the need) for external validation and life, and turning it onto things other than God.

This is the reason we become bitter in life. The thing we thought would bring us life has been taken away from us. This is the reason we are worried and filled with fears. The thing we thought could bring us life is being threatened. This is the source of our boredom. The thing we are hoping will bring us life is not currently available to us. All of our problems stem from idol worship. And God is telling us here that all our sources of healing and hope are found in coming back home to the Father.

Follow your heart’s passions today. They will reveal your “functional” gods you’re looking to for life. And then run back to Jesus to find the fulfillment those things can never consistently deliver.