SMALL GODS

"Gotta serve somebody." Do you remember this classic song by Bob Dylan?  You may be an ambassador to England or France. You may like to gamble; you might like to dance. You may be the heavyweight champion of the world; you may be a socialite with a long string of pearls... but you're gonna have to serve somebody. It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you're gonna have to serve somebody. You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride; you may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side; you might like to eat caviar; you might like to eat bread; you may be sleeping on the floor... on in a king-sized bed... but you're gonna have to serve somebody. It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Yes, it's true- we have to serve somebody. It's just a matter of when, what, or whom. Daniel Foster Wallace said it plainly: "There is no such thing as not worshiping. Everybody worships. The only choice we have is what to worship." We might worship, he went on to say, a spiritual thing (like Jesus Christ, Yahweh, or allah), or a set of principles (like the 4 Noble Truths), or one of the idols who will "eat us alive," (like money, pleasure, power, and drugs)... but we will worship someone or some thing. Idolatry, it seems, is part of who we are. Kierkegaard noted that building an identity around something other than God is the "normal state of the human heart," and John Calvin said, "Man's mind is like a store of idolatry...; so much so that if a man believes his own mind... it's certain that he will forsake God and forge some idol in his own brain." Yes, it's true- the human heart seeks a god and if it's not Christ Jesus, we will give our hearts to an idol. We have a need to worship, and if we aren't worshiping the real God, we are worshiping one of the small gods of this world.

In the 12-step world, it is said that whomever (or whatever) you turn to for comfort, strength, or security is your god. The one whom you can't get off your mind, whom you long to spend time with, whom you can't imagine living without, who simply makes you feel big and important... that one IS your god! One author put it this way, "When something becomes so important that it drives your behavior and commands your emotions, you are worshiping it," and Martin Luther added, "Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your god." So, how about it? Whom do you worship? Who is your god? In whom do you trust? 

Perhaps you're worshiping yourself. Many people do, you know. Many people... spend a lifetime pampering and serving the "omnipotent baby" who wants what he wants... and wants it now! Many people truly believe that life really is... all about them... and they trust in themselves for both security and deliverance. Besides, when we've come to believe that no one- not even and especially not God- can handle our secrets and our sins, we are obliged to seek our and serve a "small god"... and the one we know best is self. Many years ago, Voltaire noted that if God created us in His image, we have more than reciprocated because ... we've created God in our image time and time again.

"Self" is our favorite small god... but there are other idols beckoning us to worship them, aren't there? Of course there are, and the list of idols seeking our worship is almost unending. Our bank account, our piety, our church, our church building, our appearance, our family, our country, our jobs, our teams, pleasing others, pleasure itself, power, success, recognition, our possessions... these are but a few of the pretenders who promise life. Maybe you've worshiped one or more of them yourself. I know I have. I've succumbed to the voice of self more than once, but I really... fell in love with alcohol.  Indeed, I worshiped it for years, and while it seems odd to me now...there was a time when I couldn't image a single day without my bottled god. If things were tough, I turned to it; if things were great, I turned to it; if I needed courage, I turned to it; and if I needed to be charming, I turned to alcohol. Alcohol made me more than I was, and with a couple of drinks, I could dance like Fred Astaire and outfight Mohammed Ali. Alcohol was my god...but in the end it brought me to my knees, and left me for dead. That's the way it is with small gods like drink and drugs. They promise to set you free, but imprison you instead, and instead of making you whole, they break you into pieces. Indeed, they can do no other... because idols do not have the power to give or improve life!

I loved alcohol with all my heart, but when it let me down, I turned to my career, which I had worshiped anyway (though not as much as booze). I gave my heart and soul to the company. I talked the talk, I walked the walk, and I proselytized whenever I had the chance, I turned to work for fulfillment, and there was little that I would not do to get ahead, Actually, if I admit it, getting ahead was the only principle I really had, and I was sure that I could secure my future and be somebody, if I gave my heart to the corporate cause. So I gave the company the love and attention that I could've given to those who loved me. I gave it everything I had, and I kept on giving. Like alcohol, the small god called "career" wasn't satisfied until it had all of me, and have all of me it did. Getting promoted was my consuming passion, and worshiping this idol has left me with many heartfelt regrets.

Have you ever worshiped a drug or a job? Is either one of them your personal small god? Or are you part of the legion who worship money? Money, or should I say the love of it, is God's nemesis... because it beckons for us to put our trust in it... and it promises to save us... when there is only one Savior. Money is necessary currency, but for many, many people it becomes a god that promises them the world. Worship me, it whispers, and I'll give you heaven here on earth. Worship me, it shouts, and you will be worry-free. Worship me, it cries out, and you won't ever need God. Many people put their trust in their wealth, and for them, it becomes who they are... but love of money and love of God are diametrically opposed. One says "give," the other says "keep;" one says "let go," the other says "hang on;" one tells us that our riches are measured by what we give, the other tells us that we can simply sit at home and count them.

No one can worship money and God, because they're not compatible, but in truth, every single idol will let us down. Even taken together, they are powerless because there is only one God who is able. Money, power, drugs- they all vie for our worship. They promise what they cannot deliver, and... after they've their way with us, they leave us broken and regretful. Even now, there are people who are selling their souls to a small god... for a 3 car garage, a chunk of company stock, or a fifth of booze... and the devil laughs because it's so foolish. In the end, we will all stand before our Creator as He opens the book of Life, knowing that our "riches" will be counted by what we did with His Son and with the talents that He entrusted to us. In the end, there will be no titles, no designer purses, no stories of conquest, no rank or stature- just a record of what we did with Christ and how we served Him on earth. There are no banks in heaven, no bars, corner offices, no girlfriends, or gated neighborhoods either- just people... who had trusted in the Lord for salvation and loved both mercy and justice while they lived on earth. The choice, then, is ours. We can worship God and discover life and prosperity... or we can worship any number of idols- the small gods of money, power, pleasure, security, and more- and experience death and adversity! It's a spiritual truth. If we choose to worship God, we will be blessed with life... but if we choose to worship an idol, we will experience despair and death... because idols cannot give life. If we live for God, we will bear the fruit of righteousness, but if we trust in a small god, we will reap a harvest of disappointment and despair. Worshiping the real God requires surrender on our part, and serving the living Lord can be demanding ... but a God who can't ask for a life... is a God who can't give it either.