How many of you know that when you talk on your cell phone in a car that everyone else in the car is listening to your conversation? I was carpooling yesterday with a coworker who had a conversation on the cell phone. In the context of that conversation the coworker told the vocie on the other end that as black adults we tend to still act like infants who need pacifiers. The difference is what we pacify ourselves with. I marvelled at that statement,and the truth it contained.
To that coworker, things we use to get through life are pacifiers. I will call them what God calls them, idols. To many of us, our idols are our brands---those things that we believe make us who we are. Branding is new to the common vocabulary. It seems to be the idea that our stuff, or certain aspects of our physical bodies make us who we are. I will submit to you that every one of those things we rely on to give us an identity is a filthy idol, and God hates it because people will put those things before God.
Brothers and sisters we are to have our identity in Christ. He is the potter! He can shape us, smash us, reshape us, smash us again and make us anew. Our efforts should be focused on making ourselves like Him, not creating ourselves as a brand so we can resemble the world (world=evil).
So, when you say brother, 'I gotta keep me a fresh pair of Jordans', or 'I gotta have the baddest ride,' or 'I cant be seen without my jewelry' what you are really saying is- "My identity is not in Christ, it is wrapped up in these sinful things that have become idols."
So, when you, sister, spend hundred of dollars on a purse, but cannot seem to tithe (read Malachi 3:8) what are you saying to God? When you, sister, spend countless hours in the mirror, or in the beauty salon to create the perfect look; but you cannot seem to find time to read the word of God, what are you saying to God?
Brothers and sisters, we are an ignorant people, and we are an ignorant church. We can rattle off 50 fashion designers, cars, shoes, stores, but we cannot remember 5 of the 10 commandments. What kind of worship is that? What kind of honor is that to a God that has given us everything? We can identify every Jordan shoe from 1985 to 1999, but we cannot tell you where Paul was when he had his conversion, nor the signifigance of it. We excel in those things which are unimportant to God, and we are woefully deficient in those things that God values. Look at our homes, our families, our children! But we are going to look good, arent we. The kids cannot read. The young men cant do anything but play video games. But we all look good!
These are everyday things that we do as a church! A church! A people who say we surrender all to God. It is foolish for us to think that a Holy God is going to grant entry into eternal bliss to a bunch of worldly folks who go to church. It has gotten so bad that I hear people say things like, yes, I'm a Christian, I go to church. News flash, going to church does not make you a Christian anymore than sitting in a garage makes you a car.
Time is short folks. Let us all pray that God reveal the idols in our lives and give us strength to tear them down. Let us all repent of our pridefullness that leads to our idol worship and ask God to humble us and make us as clay in his hands. Let us all pray that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven, whatever that will is. Let us pray that the groom returns soon to claim his bride, because this whole world is a mess.
