Recycling

The weekend was long and tough for me as the Lord poked at areas of sin in my heart.  And in the midst of it, called me to continue trying to shepherd the hearts of my Crew toward Him!  It was a classic "fail" kind of situation.  He reminded me of my tendency toward self-absorption-- which He's been working on a little bit  all summer!  Then He dug a little deeper.  And while I was crying over the implications of that, He dug deeper still, to something I didn't think was a problem for me anymore.  All in the course of about five minutes!

You might think I'd get a break after that "workout", but no.  I tend to be sinfully competitive.  That is to say, if I don't win, I get angry.  Well, Sunday I lost at everything I played at!  "Can't you just play for fun?", you might ask.  It seems apparent to me that, at this particular juncture in my life, the answer is, "NO!". =/  And if that weren't enough sin to keep me busy, I was beginning to elevate money to "god" status again.  The most frustrating part of this whole scenario is that I'm "recycling" old idols!  I'm a stinking idol factory!  And still God is patient with me.  And far too loving to allow my idols to satisfy me for long.  Now THAT is GOOD NEWS!

“The human heart is a factory of idols… Every one of us is, from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols.” ~John Calvin

And God spoke all these words, saying, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Exodus 20:1-6