Sadly, there are many tales of prominent Christians who fall
due to the siren call of worldly pleasures. But you don’t have to be the ruler
of a kingdom to take a lesson from this. Any of us who claim the name of Jesus
are susceptible to earthly allures. And often the idols we find tempting us to
worship are very subtle. There is nothing inherently wrong with watching a
little television, playing a little golf, taking a jog through the park, or
going for a ride on a motorcycle. However, when any hobby or pursuit takes so
much of our time that we neglect the spiritual disciplines that keep our faith
strong, we risk falling into idolatry. The slide has begun if the first thing
that comes to mind when there is a free moment is picking up the remote or
grabbing the clubs.
Polls
tell a sad tale when it comes to Bible reading among evangelical
Christians. Too few church going believers pick up their Bibles even once
during the week. At the same time, according to one
study, Americans over fifteen watch an average of three hours of TV per
day, but most Christians would claim they don’t have time to read the Bible. I
know men who will spend hours feeding their golf habit but can’t spare a few
minutes to feed their souls. If God is truly at the center of a life, that life
should be centered around God and His Word not concerned with catching the
latest episode of that popular TV show or chasing a better handicap score.
Those things should be secondary.
I don’t want to single out hobbies as the only temptation to
idolatry. There are many things, inherently good things that can pull a
Christian off center. Family responsibilities, career requirements, the maintenance
of our worldly possessions all can lure us off track. Ironically, even “church”
itself can get us in trouble. We can become so busy with meetings and programs
and practices that we end up “chasing
the wind” as Solomon put it. The Preacher said that everything under the
sun is futile. The key here is “under the sun.” If the writer of Ecclesiastes
was Solomon as many believe, you can see how he became disenchanted with life
on earth. His greatest failure was not seeing what his father, David, saw. Read
his psalms: David always turned his eyes to God when the world was
unsatisfying. He
knew where peace was to be found: “Better is one day in your courts than a
thousand elsewhere.”
We no longer go to the temple in Jerusalem like David did.
We have it better: we go into the throne room of God – a
privilege bought for us by the blood of Christ. The way to make God’s
presence your center is through the spiritual disciplines, prayer and Bible
reading chief among them. Put down the remote, leave the clubs in the garage
and sit down with your Bible… every day. Confess your waywardness to God and
ask Him to bless you with His presence. At an earlier time in his life, Solomon
wrote these words to his son: “That’s right—if you make Insight your priority, and
won’t take no for an answer, searching for it like a prospector panning for
gold, like an adventurer on a treasure hunt, believe me, before you know
it… you’ll have come upon the Knowledge
of God.” (Prov.
2:1-5 The Message) The feeling you get from that will be better than a
hole-in-one. No foolin’.
Related posts: The
Missing Book; Idol Worship;
Who’s
in the Temple; Where
Do You Find Truth?; Read This
or Die;
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