From the Pastor's Study
From the Pastor’s Study
Our Own Little gods
March 9, 2022
When we no longer understand ourselves to be God’s, we become little gods. Reworded, this says, “When we no longer believe that we belong to God, we become our own gods.” In the broadest definition, a god is someone (or something) that has authority and power over our lives. When we say that we belong God, we also are saying that he has authority to tell us how to live our lives. There is a corollary to this, namely that when we belong to God, we also believe that he takes care of us. If we eliminate the one, we also eliminate the other.
This is illustrated in the life of a young man in one of my churches. He had made the decision to engage in a rather sinful lifestyle, one that ignored God’s commands. He showed no remorse or repentance for his choice, even though I tried to show him otherwise. He since married, and he and his wife were blessed with a daughter. It became quite clear, after a month or so, that his daughter has some significant health problems that may or may not take her life. This young man is beside himself with worry and grief. Sadly, because of his decision to live apart from God, he has no one to turn to for help. The medical community is doing all they can, but they can do little.
His life is an illustration of the second part of the saying: we become little gods. This young man is left without a God who governs the world with his almighty power and who has committed himself to care for his people and his creation. Of course, God still cares for this young man and his infant daughter, but this young man doesn’t know it. The young man wanted to be self-determining in that he wanted to obey his own rules, and God did not hinder him from doing so. But God also allowed this young man to experience life without him. Perhaps, as he desperately seeks help for his daughter, he will turn back to God, but so far that hasn’t happened. We can only pray that he will stop being his own little god and recognize that he is God’s. True, he will have to submit his life to the Lord, but he will also know that God cares for him and his daughter.
The plight of this young man is reflected all around us. By and large, western civilization has rejected the idea that we must submit ourselves to the will of God and live by his commands. We have decided that we want to become self-determining and self-directed. We want to do things our own way with little regard for what God desires. This supposedly has given those who live in the West great freedom, for we feel that we can do what we want. The only binding rule is that whatever we do should not hurt another person outright. It’s not that we feel we should love our neighbours; we just limit ourselves to refraining from doing them harm. This freedom we have, however, comes at a great cost. I don’t think it’s exaggerating to say that few people recognize that there is a God who loves this world and who longs to hear our prayers. They don’t know that there is a God who can change the hearts of world leaders and redirect the course of history and so rid the world of the problems that are growing into an insurmountable mountain.
The war in Ukraine has led to rising gas prices, and that is going to affect the price of food, clothing and housing. This rapid inflation is compounding the problems that our response to COVID has created. Shortages are becoming commonplace, and there is a real reason to fear that in the near future we will not be able to fill our cars with gasoline when we want to, not because of the price but because reserves have been depleted. Frustrations have resulted in protests, and we can be fairly certain that the next major protest may not be far off, and it may not be peaceful. We cannot predict the future, but it is not out of the question that our world may be experiencing drastic and unwelcome change.
As we have turned away from the Lord and sought to become sovereign in our own right, we have had to bear the consequences. Western civilization does not know that there is a God who is sovereign over all and who is exceedingly responsive to our prayers. Although he can act on his own will and do for us what we need, perhaps he is waiting for us to call on him and seek his help. Perhaps God is using the problems we have created for ourselves to turn us back to himself. The question is this: will we stop being our own little gods and recognize that we and this world are God’s?
As people who put our trust in Jesus Christ, we have a message of hope. Our main message today to the world is that God is there, and that he is willing and able to intervene in this world to correct the problems we have created. But our message cannot be only that God is willing to help. We cannot mislead the world. We also need to be honest with those who do not know God and tell them that with his help comes the expectation of obedience. If we seek God’s help, we have to stop being our own little gods. The world would certainly be a better place if we did.
Pastor Gary
