Captive Hearts

“God’s call to obey is itself a grace. In this call, He is actively rescuing you from you.” 

Paul David Tripp’s entry statement on today’s devotional from New Morning Mercies struck a  chord in my spirit today. You know those times when you’re reading something and you stop, press pause, stare into space and think…I need to chew on this. …Those times when the Lord has been giving you spiritual pieces for some sort of collective mental mosaic and they start making an image? Please grab a cuppa and muse with me a while.

I am almost daily reminded that God created with intelligent design, and there is purpose and meaning built into every detail of life, pointing us to Him. So one piece I have been pondering is that we were designed to be worshipers. We knowingly or unknowingly seek something or someone to fix our eyes on, to be our best for, to belong to, to give us purpose and meaning in this troubled life. The object of our worship motivates us to make sacrifices for it. We follow some sort of rules or rituals in our worship that order our lives, whether consciously or subconsciously. That object of worship is the hub of the worldview wheel that navigates our decisions and choices everyday, and yet many of us have not taken the time to really ponder… what is that worldview?

We can so easily live our lives as  automatons driven by cultural values (the shoulds and expectations that families and society place on us.), consumerism and media feeds.  It is a type of slavery. It can be a zombie-like idolatry. Images of The matrix film come to mind.

So who or what is the object of our worship?

Paul Tripp writes: “We were never hardwired to be free, if by ‘freedom’ we mean an independent, self-sufficient life. We were created to be connected to something vastly bigger than ourselves. We were designed to have our lives organized and directed by an agenda that is bigger than our truncated personal desires and goals. We were carefully built by God to have every aspect of our personhood connected to Him and His plans for us, and when we reject Him, we don’t live autonomously; we replace Him with something or someone.”

How do we discover if we are worshipping a false god or idols? Let’s consider some questions we can ask ourselves. What do I think about the most? Whose messages do I most eagerly await? How do I spend my money? How do I spend my leisure time? Do I really know the God as revealed in the Bible or am I believing in a god made in my own image? Check some of these out: 10 idols of your heart to remove.

Paul Tripp says it well, “So what does [God’s] grace offer you? The answer is the world’s most wonderful , heart-satisfying, life-changing, and hope-producing slavery… His absolute rulership over every area of our lives is not a deadening law but a life giving grace. He is freeing us from our slavery to what is not true and cannot deliver.”

“God’s call to obey doesn’t end your life; it is meant to protect the life that only He can give you.”

So what do you think about this idea of being willing slaves to an Invisible God? Am I trying to serve two masters? Is there anything in my life I silently send the message to God, “please don’t touch” or “off limits”?

Join me in laying before the Good Gentle Shepherd our hearts and see what He shows us about perhaps some hidden idols or things or people we value too much. I would love to hear your thoughts or testimonies. Meanwhile, I will share mine in the next post…so until then…God bless and let’s share a cup of tea again soon.