The Idol you

​1 Cor. 6:19-20, Romans 12:1

God created humanity with individual will.  Each person has wants and desires, and is naturally focused on achieving their will.  Every child naturally wants to get his or her way.  Since the Garden of Eden, our will has been mixed with a nature of sin and became naturally selfish.  When Jesus came and died on the cross, He broke the power of sin and death.  The symbol of baptism represents the death and new life that is gained through accepting Jesus Christ.  Death to the old man and the sin nature, and raised to new life in Jesus Christ.  This new life in Jesus is not our own.  It has been bought with blood.  We are living under a new will, the will of God.  This is a new concept and lifestyle. 

Living as a servant of the Lord goes against culture and conventional thought.  In a world that celebrates sports figures and entrepreneurs who can achieve their will or even impose their will on others, the Christian is to die to self and become alive to the will of God.  “Our way” becomes an idol when it is surpasses our desire for God’s will in our heart and mind.  When we prefer our own way, we declare ourselves God of our own life.  Our hubris says “I know better than God, and my way is The Way.”  It is easy to slip into this lifestyle.  It is the status quo.  As Christians we are not just to simply subjugate our will to the Father, but to transform our heart and mind.  As we draw closer to God, our will aligns with His will.  God molds and shapes our desires into His desires.  As the Spirit of God touches our life, conflict between our own will and God’s will dissolves, and we become true servants of the Lord.  It is a transformation that brings true peace.  Today may your mind be renewed; may you be transformed by the Word of God and may all selfish desires be washed away and replaced by desires birthed out of the love and grace of God.