The god of Our Own Creation

Revelation 1:12-20

 

 

In Columbus, Ohio, and throughout the Buckeye nation, if you are an Ohio State football player, you are idolized; and on Saturdays, you are worshiped. When the Shoe is filled with over 106,000 rabid fans; when TBDBITL forms Script Ohio; when the Buckeyes score their first touchdown; the god of football is in its throne.

 

As humans, we tend to put many things ahead of God in our life; we tend to make idols; to make a god of our own creation. People have made idols since the beginning of time. Isaiah wrote this about carpenters who made idols:

 

¹⁶ Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.” ¹⁷ From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, “Save me! You are my god!”         Isaiah 44:16-17 NIV

 

We may not make our idols out of wood or stone or gold or silver; but don’t ever doubt

that we still make idols. It could be football, work, family, church or addictions like drugs, alcohol, gambling and sex. The potential list is endless. The difference between these idols, or gods, and Jesus is that He is the Living One.

 

“Only God can do the impossible and bring life from nonlife. Just as He breathed human life into the dust of the ground in Genesis, so also He conceived life in a virgin’s womb”. (From Today in the Word devotional.)

 

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.            Revelation 1:17-18 NIV

 

What god of our own creation can do this? Only Jesus, the Living One, can reach out and touch our heart to draw us to him; to mold and shape us; to lead and guide us; to give us strength to face our daily challenges. Only Jesus can. Therefore, “Do not be afraid”.