idols

Which God Do You Most Entertain?

Dr. Mike 2025 , , , ,

“‘You shall have no other gods before me.”   Deut. 5:7

Tell me your god and I will know more about you in the quickest amount of time. Whichever god you focus your attention on is a reflection of how you view life. Your beliefs, values, and practices are a byproduct of the god you entertain.

There are many gods in the world. They may be spirits, images, or even other people. They may be movements, religions or political affiliations. They probably represent something good in life. Faith, family, and country affiliation are some examples. Health, education, and career are some others.

You worship what your heart desires and longs for. For life is a constant process of making decisions on who you are going to serve.  Whatever becomes the center core of your life is the god you eventually entertain.

If money is your god, your values and practices will reflect your actions. You will pursue your god without ever finding full inner satisfaction. If your god is family, again your values and practices will reflect your actions. Family is a good thing. But you will likewise still find that inner hole empty and unsatisfied over the long haul if they are your central means of worship.

The list is endless. There are many gods seeking your attention and allegiance. But there is only one who will truly satisfy the thirst of your inner soul. The God-Man Jesus Christ. HE is the Incarnate Triune God.

When you come to know HIM, you come to the place where you realize your story has always included HIM. But you ignorantly never realized HE was always there.

As you refocus your heart, mind, and will toward HIM, you come to the place of inner peace, love, and joy. You realize when HE is first in your life, everything else falls into its proper priority. HE is the culmination of all the other good gods. HIS ways and purpose put to shame all the evil gods.

When HE gave this commandment to Moses, HE did so for our sake. HE knew what a mess we would become by pursuing all the other gods in this world. But HE also knew when you and I abide in HIM, life is much better.

So, take a hard look at the gods you entertain and serve. Which one has been good for you? Which one has robbed you of your freedom? Which one has enslaved you? Which one steals most of your time away from being the person God has made you to be?

After your evaluation period, compare your god with Jesus Christ. Read the Gospel of John in the Bible for yourself. Discover more about HIM and how HE wants what is best for you. Set aside the rumors and gossips of ignorant folks. They most likely are people who never stopped to investigate the real Jesus. Instead, accept HIS invitation to engage HIM in your daily life. Make HIM the core of your life and watch what a difference HE makes.

Yes, keep HIM before all the others and HE will help you keep all the other gods in their place of priority. In fact, when HE is your central command center, all other gods are aligned and eventually bow down their presence in serving HIM. HE brings out the best in all of us.        

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Faith-Integrator, Encourager, Scribbler

“We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,” (Colossians 1:9)

Aspirations and Writings Neatly Bound in Book Formats:

Encourage a Friend…Share Today’s Message!

Copyright 2013-Present | Abbaco LLC | All Rights Reserved

What Must You Do To Inherent Eternal Life?

Dr. Mike Bible Life Questions , ,
And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Luke 18:18 ESV.

ruler 2

This question came from a rich ruler who sought the answer from Jesus. Jesus in His usually manner went right to the ruler’s heart. He started by stating five of the Ten Commandments which relate to human relationship. The ruler replied that he has kept these from his youth. Then Jesus threw the zinger at him. Jesus knew that the one major area of the ruler’s life that came between God and him was his wealth. Therefore, Jesus told him there was one thing he lacked. Too sell his possessions and follow him.

Many Bible teachers emphasize the first part of Jesus’ reply rather than the last part. The emphasis they place is on the wealth rather than on Jesus. Many Christians even today struggle with the answer. What Jesus stated and repeated later is that man doesn’t have the capacity within himself apart of God to do anything that earns him eternal life.

Jesus recognized the idol of wealth in the rich ruler’s heart. He offered him the opportunity to join him right then and there. Yet the decision to sell everything was more than he could do. Like many of us, we come to the place where we realize we can’t do what only God can do. We do not have the sole capacity to do anything to earn eternal life.

Only the Triune God can change a person’s heart. When the Holy Spirit resides and moves within a person’s life, transformation occurs. Only God can replace a stony, hard heart with a soft, pliable one. That is why Jesus stated shortly thereafter that what is impossible for man is possible with God.

We all have idols in our lives. Typically idols are good things in life. However, we make them the ultimate thing. And when they become the ultimate thing, they replace God’s position in our life. That is what makes an idol. Wealth, family, career, education, and food are all good things. However, when they become the most important treasure of our heart, then God is being replaced by a forgery. God knows that we are wired and operate fully human when He is the center of our life. When something else takes that place, we suffer and never experience the rich relationship with Him and others. This is what Jesus saw in the rich ruler.

Jesus gave the rich ruler the opportunity to follow Him. Whether the rich ruler eventually came to follow Jesus or not, we are not told. However, Scripture does reveal to us today that eternal life is God’s gift to us for those who believe in Jesus Christ (1 John 5:11).

So if you haven’t done business with your Maker, maybe today is a good time to look into the life of Jesus and learn what He has to say about your life now and for all eternity.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Executive Director & Founder
Marketplace Bible Institute
& Resource Center, Inc
Author of e-Books:
 *  Great Business Emulates a Good God
 *  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
 *  Simply The Messenger
 *  Unequally Married

Encourage your Friends…Share Today’s Message!

Idols

Dr. Mike Kingdom Paradigms , , , ,
“You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3 ESV

idols 1

What makes something an idol? Why is an idol so destructive in your life? Or is God simply on an ego trip?

Setting aside any religious understanding you may have on idols, let’s look at it from a practical point of view.

What was the first idol that appeared on the world scene? Would you believe it involved an archangel. The Bible states that God created Lucifer more beautiful than any other angel. However, rather than show gratitude to God and walk humbly with Him, Lucifer began to look at himself. He basically began to look at himself as superior to God. His pride turned himself into an idol. The result was a failed coup of heaven and banishment from authority within God’s domain.

What was Adam’s and Eve’s sin? Didn’t Eve make the forbidden fruit an idol? Rather than spend more time with God or Adam in developing their relationship, her focus became the fruit. Upon the Serpent’s temptation, she allowed the idol to supplant her relationship with The Lord. Like Satan before her, she wasn’t satisfied in keeping the relationship between her and The Lord in place. She was created to be like God, but limited in her physical attributes. She wanted more. She wanted to be more like God and took circumstances into her own hands to make it happen. She wasn’t going to wait for God to bring it about in his way and schedule. Her idol became her Achilles heel.

An idol is simply anything that comes before God. Generally speaking, idols really don’t exist anywhere but in our hearts and mind. Whatever takes the place of God in our worship, love, and passion is a candidate to become an idol. Money, power, sex, food, friends, family, country, religion, science, are some of the candidates that we convert into idols. By themselves, they are usually neutral and generally very good for our well-being. However, whenever they become more important in our life than the Triune God, we have crossed over into idol worship.

The result of idol worship is generally a kick in the pants. Idols are false strongholds that empower us away from God and reality. God has designed a divine order in how life works. When we build our life outside of his order, holes and craters will appear. The result is usually pain and sorrow and maybe even premature death.

God created us. He made us to worship him. He designed us to walk with Jesus Christ. He encased us to have fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Like any healthy marriage relationship, a third-party (mistress) takes away the intimacy between the two. The same is true when an idol comes between our Heavenly God and ourselves.

You may not recognize the idols in your life. God does. He knows your spiritual condition. That is why I am most grateful for Jesus Christ. His act of justification on our behalf and the outpouring of his grace only demonstrates his awesome love for us. I for one am thankful that he cares enough for us that he takes the time to help destroy the idols in our lives. We may not like the process, but the fruit at the end of the day is most scrumptious.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Executive Chair, Consultant, Encourager
Marketplace Bible Institute
& Resource Center, Inc
Author of e-Books:
* Great Business Emulates a Good God
* Be Radical…Follow Christ!
* Simply The Messenger
* Unequally Married