The Bible warns us to not make an idol for ourselves of anything in heaven or on the earth. Imagine what would happen if in your church service this Sunday someone brought a metal idol into the church and declared, "here is the god of the Bible that I worship". Just thinking about that I get a sickening feeling in my stomach.
Yet I am forced to realize that if I were to take the mental image that I have of God and forge it into a metal object I will have the same sickening feeling. Not because I have tried to define the greatness of God into a simple metal object (which would be wrong and impossible to do), but because my mental image of God is limited. Now the crazy thing is this mental image assumes that everything I think about God is accurate.
What if some of the things I think about God are not accurate? What if my mental image of Jesus distorts his nature so much that I find myself worshiping a mental idol that is not anything like Jesus at all. For example is Jesus really an effeminate all inclusive guy who never seeks to upset anyone but would prefer that everyone just get along? Or is Jesus more like the one who confronted the sin of the religious leaders, did battle with demonic forces, and died a bloody horrible death to pay for my sins? Having one or the other of these images (or a hybrid of the two) creates a Jesus in my mind that I fall in love with, creates expectations from Jesus, and expectations from others who claim to follow Jesus. When two people get together who have two different mental images of Jesus it is easy to see why conflict is soon to follow. Each person holding onto their idols and seeking to convert the other to worship their idol.
BUT, what if each person agrees to destroy the false mental idols that have created and instead allow scripture to determine who Jesus really is. What if christians chose to follow the Jesus of the Bible and not the Americanized Jesus? What if christians fell in love with the Jesus of scripture instead of the mental idol that more closely reflects who they want Jesus to be.
"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand [ generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments." (Exodus 20:4-6)
Agree!!! - Jesus was a rebel for what He know was right about who God is. Being God Himself, He had this knowledge. We are created by Him and only know what we are told He is by scripture and our own experience as it relates to scripture. Lets stop putting God in a box of our own design and embrace all that God has for us. I cant do that if I cant be humble and consider others opinions. Absolutely comparing those to scripture but most of all loving my brothers and sisters as creations of the most High.
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