It may be that you are right on the edge of your best life but it seems that an entire sea is in your way. Jesus is going to split it in two, and you will realize that only He could have done it!
Noah's ark, Abram's calling, the epic story of Moses, King David are just a few of the people God used to carry out a restorative plan for his people.
Before beginning an exclusive relationship with YAHWEH (God) the Israelite people worshiped and recognized other gods. Through years of culture and estrangement, mankind made idols of gold and other materials to worship the different cosmic gods.
After God brought them out of Egypt, we can see that the Israelite people decided to make an image of God.
EXODUS 32
"3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods,[a] Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.”
Aaron had not created the statue of an alien god, but an image of YAHWEH! They made an altar to the calf in the name of Jehovah, but they made a big mistake. Our God is not a golden calf, nor an image that human hands can replicate. The great problem of God's people was a predisposition to idolatry. If you ask me why Jesus did not come earlier, it is because I have realized that God wanted to make it clear that his redemption was going to break all affiliation with idolatry. Eventually the Jews stopped making golden calves and although many people continued to make figures out of wood and other materials, all of humanity now created spiritual idols in their hearts. Religiosity, imperial conquest, and race superiority were just a few of the idols to which humans bowed their knees.
They were SO CLOSE to the covenant God had with them, they had tasted love, ransom, provision and His power! But they were not yet capable of having a relationship with the true God. They were facing a red sea with sin and idolatry ... this could only be divided by GOD. So Jesus comes on the scene. God in skin, God on Earth. Jesus was the only image that God wanted to have, he was himself, walking through the streets of his creation, speaking face to face with men as he did in the beginning. The sin of humanity was only increasing and knowing that it was not going to decrease, Jesus came to us to LOVE US, ERASE our sins and give us a new BEGINNING.
Many times, we continue to create idols; images of things that represent God: our jobs, money, pride, our own strength. But God, through his son Jesus, has forgiven this idolatry and stretched out his hand for us to renew our minds and let the ONLY representation of God redeem, renew and transform our lives. That is JESUS.
I don't know about you, but the time in my life where I pretended to be my own God taught me something: "that no matter how hard I tried, I would never be in control." My broken heart was screaming at me that something was missing. Image after image, I bent my knees at my own desires only to see my heart grow harder and harder. Until Jesus entered my story and took my life in HIS hands! I knew my false idols well, but today I live to know the will of the true God. You can do it too!
REVELATION 3:20
"20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
If you know me, you know that I love to eat! And dinner is my favorite part of the day. Today, God knocks on my door to just come in and eat with me. The restorative work of Christ begins when you open the door and let him come in to dinner with you. It may be that your heart is full of idols, but Jesus will take care of them, if you give yourself to a relationship with Him, the greatest adventure of your life, the best gift!
The Living Image | Devotionals | ALTAR Church
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