THE RECREATION OF CHOICE_02 Romans 5:2-5 / Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 In America we do have idols of our own and they receive all our love, attention, and devotion. When we put these things ahead of God, they become our idols. That's what an idol is: anything that you worship instead of worshipping God, or anything you serve instead of serving God. It can be a possession or a relationship or an attitude or even an ideology — if it takes God's place, it becomes an idol. In this Study tonight we'll talk about. how to abandon these idols. How to get them out of the way, how to prevent them from taking the place in our lives that rightfully belongs to God. We are taking about the Idol of Pleasure. I want to make clear from the start that God is not anti-pleasure. It's no coincidence that food tastes good, that sex feels good, that music sounds good, that fresh air smells good. Immediate gratification has become an American Idol because we're inclined to do anything, we can avoid the pain of endurance. We don't want to wait. But it is in waiting that we experience God's power. You have to realize once and for all that you can't successfully endure difficult days without the help of the Holy Spirit — not if you want to become the person God wants you to be. Romans 5:5 You can easily spot the people who have tried to endure difficulties without God's help: they are bitter, or angry, or they're boastful and proud, or they're full of fear that they'll have to go through difficult days again. Maybe they survived, but they didn't thrive in the process. The ordeal doesn't make them better, it makes them worse, it makes them weaker, it makes them less prepared for the next time. |
