Have You Ever Seen Idols?

I'm reading through Deuteronomy during my morning quiet time. This morning I read through Deut. 5, which included the 10 Commandments. As I read the 1st Commandment in verses 7-10, I recalled our trip to Greece & Turkey last year. We visited the sites of pagan temples, saw statues of pagan gods, such as Artemis, & also saw idols that have had been unearthed by archaeologists. I also recalled visits to the Bishop Museum in Hawaii, where many pagan idols from across the Pacific were displayed. And if you've ever visited Mission Central in Mapleton, IA, you've seen Gary Thies' collection of idols.

While it's easy to scoff at these ancient statues & the ignorant people who created & worshiped them, we know all about the idols that are worshiped in our culture today:  materialism, political leaders & parties, sex, drugs, alcohol, power, just to name a few. They might not be represented by statues, but they are every bit as idolatrous as these ancient statues & carvings. And we struggle with these idols today.

Deut. 5:7-10 reads, "You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third & fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me & keep My commandments."

Walking Witnesses

"We are walking witnesses for Jesus Christ wherever we go. How can we do less than witness with all our heart?" [Reggie White, "Men's Devotional Bible]

Where Does Strength Come From?

"May the Lord give strength to His people! May the Lord bless His people with peace!" [Psalm 29:11]

God's Word Penetrates

"Does God's Word ever cause you discomfort? When you read the Bible, does what you read make you uneasy? . . . When God's Word speaks to you, it is always for a purpose. God knows your heart & knows what you need to do to bring your life into conformity to Christ . . . The best response, however, is to pray as the psalmist did: "Search me, O God, & know my heart (Ps. 139:23)." Regularly allow the Word of God to wash over you & find any sin or impurity (Eph. 5:36). Always make the connection between your life & what God is saying to you through His Word. Make a habit of taking every word from God seriously, knowing that it is able to judge your heart & mind." [Henry & Richard Blakaby, "Experiencing God Day-By-Day"]

Christ's Birth Hallows All Births & Bodily Life

"The Bible is an earthy, fleshly book. God forms Adam from dirt. He fashions Eve from Adam's rib. They eat forbidden fruit & use animal skin for covering. There are pillars of smoke & fire, roasted lambs & bitter herbs, bloody sacrifices & clouds of temple incense. And not only in the Old Testament--the New Testament continues with such physicality. Jesus heals with spit & dirt, fingers in ears, & caskets touched. A bloody cross culminates in bodily resurrection. Finally, He promises the resurrection of our bodies & a renewed physical earth.

"Biblical salvation is not an offer to escape the body into some disembodied realm, whether platonic, gnostic, Eastern, transhumanist or anything else. Rather, the Bible deeply anchors redemption itself to the body. God carries out His redemptive deliverance through intense bodily realities from creation to consummation.

"The Christmas story is also grounded in physicality:  a pregnancy. There is not much that is more utterly human than giving birth & being born. This fact--that God has taken on flesh in the virgin's womb--is like a diamond held up to the light. The more you behold its mysteries, the more facets of beauty & wonder you perceive, & the more implications for life emerge in the blessings of birth & embodiment. The Christmas story reflects the subversive & compelling role for the church & the family in a society that has forgotten what it means to be human." [Josh Pauling, "The Lutheran Witness," Dec. 2023]

A Prayer for Epiphany

"Father in heaven, as at the baptism in the Jordan River You once proclaimed Jesus Your beloved Son & anointed Him with the Holy Spirit, grant that all who are baptized in His name may faithfully keep the covenant into which they have been called, boldly confess their Savior, & with Him be heirs of life eternal; through Jesus Christ, who lives & reigns with You & the Holy Spirit, once God, now & forever. Amen." [Lutheran Worship]

A Christmas Hymn

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, LW 62, St. 3

All you, beneath your heavy load, By care & guilt bent low, Who toil along a dreary way With painful steps & slow:  Look up, for golden is the hour, Come swiftly on the wing, The Prince was born to bring you peace; Of Him the angels sing.