We became instant friends in high school.  We first met on the bus. She was new to our school.  Her family moved to Oklahoma City from Louisiana. Our Oklahoma accent did not compare to her deep drawl, southern way of speaking. Renee brought out the best in me and I hope I did that for her.  She was quiet and a bit shy at first but not for long as I introduced her to all my friends and showed her the way around our school.  

A connection brought us closer as friends!  Renee, being from “Cajun country” with the French family name of Charbonne, brought us even closer for we had a French connection!  My grandpa’s family was French and even spoke French in their home when he was a boy.  It was because of him and my adoration of him that I took French in high school.  Renee, at the insistence of her family also took the same French language classes with me.  We practiced our French lessons together and with the help of my grandpa, we learned how to speak the words of this language correctly—minus the southern drawl! 

What I noticed about myself, and I’m smiling now just thinking about it, was the more I was with my good friend, Renee, the more I began to act and speak like her.  I caught myself saying my words with the same southern drawl as my word syllables became more accented and longer—just like Renee!  My family noticed it along with my friends from church.  Then I noticed it!

Psalm 115’s warning makes total sense to me!  It did then and it does now.  We naturally, without even thinking about it, develop similar characteristics of those who we trust, confide in and love being with the most. When we are not with them, we are planning the next time we meet!   This isn’t a phenomenon; it’s just fact.  However, when we cherish our things and admire people as life itself while putting God aside as a mere “placeholder”; it becomes a form of idol worship!  Trouble is on the horizon when we put all our trust in things or humans in ways that block our view of God. It is then that those things and people become the idols of our affection and attention.

God created within us a need to belong—because we belong to Him!  We belong to Him who created us in His own image.  We need Him who created us to help us be more like Him in every way.  God gives us His power to transform when we surrender to His will because of our complete love for Him, knowing He has our best interests at heart and wants the very best for us.  God does for us what no man or women, family member, or intimate friends can provide—salvation with eternal life!  Because of Jesus, we can approach God with confidence. His most important commandments to us come in a specific order. 1. Love God. 2. Love Others like God loves us!  God first and always. We don’t know love until we know God and are in relationship with God through Jesus our Lord!

My great relationship with Renee as a young adult in high school was provided by our God who we both believed and trusted on “account of His merciful love and faithful ways”.  To God be the glory!  As we grew in our relationship with each other; we grew in our relationship with God.  Because God was, is, and always will be the most important relationship of all; we learned to become more like Him in every way.

Psalm 115, The Message

^1-2 Not for our sake, God, no, not for our sake,
    but for your name’s sake, show your glory.
Do it on account of your merciful love,
    do it on account of your faithful ways.
Do it so none of the nations can say,
    “Where now, oh where is their God?”

^3-8 Our God is in heaven
    doing whatever he wants to do.
Their gods are metal and wood,
    handmade in a basement shop:
Carved mouths that can’t talk,
    painted eyes that can’t see,
Tin ears that can’t hear,
    molded noses that can’t smell,
Hands that can’t grasp, feet that can’t walk or run,
    throats that never utter a sound.
Those who make them have become just like them,
    have become just like the gods they trust.

^9-11 But you, Israel: put your trust in God!
    —trust your Helper! trust your Ruler!
Clan of Aaron, trust in God!
    —trust your Helper! trust your Ruler!
You who fear God, trust in God!
    —trust your Helper! trust your Ruler!

^12-16 O God, remember us and bless us,
    bless the families of Israel and Aaron.
And let God bless all who fear God—
    bless the small, bless the great.
Oh, let God enlarge your families—
    giving growth to you, growth to your children.
May you be blessed by God,
    by God, who made heaven and earth.
The heaven of heavens is for God,
    but he put us in charge of the earth.

^17-18 Dead people can’t praise God—
    not a word to be heard from those buried in the ground.
But we bless God, oh yes—
    we bless him now, we bless him always!
Hallelujah!

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

“I am the Lord, Your God. You will have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20

Friends we admire can easily become our idols.  Don’t let your friends become your idols of worship.  They can’t handle the pressure of this dysfunctional way of relationship and we sin against God when we idolize them. (That includes pastors and leaders!)

Things and/or people who stand between God and us and block our view of God, hindering us in our efforts to become more like Him has been brought to us by our sponsor who is the earthly prince of evil.  Don’t fall for it.  Avoid idols of any kind at all costs or it will cost us our very lives.  “Dead people can’t praise God”.  Come alive in Christ who is Life eternal!

May all response with praise to God because He first loved us and we now love Him back in a growing intimate relationship with desire to become like Him who made us!

May we worship God for He alone is worthy of our praise!

May we respond by offering ourselves in surrender to His will and not our own.  There is no one like our God. There is no one I would rather be like than our God!

Lord,

Cleanse our hearts, remove all the “idols” that are taking up space. Renew our minds, shift our thinking from earthbound to Kingdom of heaven thoughts. Refresh our souls with your new tender mercies for today that gives us confidence of you in us and us in you. Continually restore and replenish the joy and peace of your salvation at work within us.  To you be all the glory, honor, and praise!  Hallelujah! 

In Jesus Name, Amen 

I believe.  I’m listening for I am yours. Lead me, Lord.