Vs. 25-27
Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.
This is an interesting little paragraph in this chapter about a man Named Demetrius whose business was going under because of Paul's preaching. What's interesting to me is that the man didn't really stop to consider if Paul was right or not but just that his business was going under. Earthly possessions were more important to him then finding out the truth about God. This seems pretty silly but It reminds me of a lot of us.
I'm going to take the verse and put it into todays terms!
Guys, you know we be gettin all this love cause our looks and popularity right. And you been hearin from all our friends at KYC that this Justin dude be preachin about being sexually pure, not partying, not stealing, not dating during high school. He be trippin! That means our friends could be leavin us hangin. There be a chance we have to stop doing this stuff. The stuff that everyone in our high school be doin.
Pretty funny I know, but it happens so much. When we come to Christ there are things that so many of us hold onto that God's telling us to let go. There are literally God's we are worshiping more than the one true God. These God's can be money, partying, the opposite sex, television, internet, you name it. When we are giving things more time and attention then God, we make these things a God. When we wont stop what God's telling us to stop, we are telling him that we know more about what's good for us then he does.
Has there been a time that you had to lay down something you didn't want to?
Are you still holding onto something?
7 comments:
I had to quit hanging out with my old friends. There was too much temptation to do things I knew were wrong. After so many years of trying to justify that going there one time or having one night of fun wouldn't send me hell, I finally realized I was allowing something I didn't necessarily even enjoy, to ruin my witness and causing me to not be able to "birth my baby".
good post bro.
We when all decided to follow Jesus, inevitably, we had to lay down something.
For me it was living the Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll lifestyle. Something I had gotten pretty good at. Interestingly enough I've found that my initial "sacrifice" was the single greatest blessing I've ever received.
Agreed?
Not only did this dude care about losing his business, he also puts special emphasis on the fact that this goddess would be dishonored. What he was used to worshiping was being called false. That's a tough pill to swallow.
My best example was my idolatry of sports. Literally ALL I cared about was going D-1 SOMEWHERE and playing a major sport. I didn't even hardely care which one. To give up the idea of pursueing a pipe dream wasn't that easy at first. Slowly but surely God whittled me down...first I went to Augie instead of UNC Asheville, then I decided to give up baseball altogether. It was hard to let go of something I worshiped my whole life, but I definitely have no regrets.
yes i have had to get rid of some of my friends. it was really hard.
maybe if it was money that at times i had to give up for the church or some people i used to be closer too i dont talk to as much anymore.
Probably some of the music i listened to, and some friends. The music wasnt that big of a deal but it definantly would send out the wrong messages and not be for god. and thats not what i wanted. so it had to change
Good word!
Sin always becomes an Idol or makes something into an idol. That is what it does. It tries to replace God's spot in our hearts with anything else.
People, sex, money, sex, drugs, sex, sports, sex, food, sex, computers, sex, iphones, sex, coffee, sex, steve jobs, sex, work, sex, school, sex, anything but God can turn into an idol.
For me, I had to lay down my dreams of being rich by the worlds standards and owning my own business. I believe that God will reward me financially and He has "made" me wealthy but I still had to take a big pay cut to work full time at the church.
I laid it down, at the cross!
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