Fool's Gold

Determining the truly valuable from the cheap imitation can be difficult, at first glance, anyway. On the streets of New York, vendors spread out displays of watches on small tables, offering a 'Rolex' for a few dollars. A discriminating buyer knows that genuine Rolex watches are not sold by street vendors and cannot be owned for a few dollars! But, if you took those same 'Rolex' imitations and put them in a jewelry store, on black velvet displays, under the right kind of lighting - many people could be fooled into buying one. My point? When Hollywood sells us a line that the meaning of life can be found in food, drink, sex, pleasure, or consumerism - the lie is obvious, at least to those with even a scrap of maturity about them. But, when those same things are wrapped up, repackaged, and promulgated in the Church, seeing the lie is much more difficult!

And that is happening! We live in a 'me' culture. The 'good' life defined by a sense of personal happiness, which is obtained by having the ability to satisfy our desires - by having sex without rules, by eating whatever we want to eat, by buying whatever we want, by making others do our bidding. When the movies and music of our culture throw this philosophy of unrestricted self-expression at us, we can name the lie. But, when our church takes the same basic philosophy that says, "Your happiness is what is the most important thing in the world. God promises to make you happy." - many cannot discern the lie and buy it at the cost of their spiritual health!

Take marriage for example. The Bible teaches that marriage is a sacred covenant, established by God at the dawn of Creation, to be honored by all. A man and woman pledge themselves irrevocably to each other, in the sight of God, until death parts them. (Yes, divorce exists - as a concession to our humanity, but it is not in the ideal plan of God. That's another discussion.) If a Believer understands the covenantal nature of marriage, he will not marry an unbeliever, even if she's tremendously attractive because without shared faith, he cannot fully become one with his wife. When tough times come to a marriage formed as a covenant, and they will, the husband and wife submit themselves to God and find a way to honor Him. A husband who wants to honor God in his marriage dies to himself and serves his wife with a Christ-like love. A wife who wants to honor God in her marriage, sets aside self-will and submits herself to her godly husband for the Lord's sake. But, how often is this taught in our churches? Not all that often! Instead, we are taught about being happy in marriage, about the joy of sex, about finding our highest potential as we are supported by our mate! The 'me' culture gets dressed up in churchy language, and few discern it. Of course, I believe that God wants every marriage to bring happiness, satisfying sex, and a greater sense of wholeness - but those are by-products of a God-honoring covenant, not the meaning of marriage! It's not a wonder that divorce is now as common among American Believers as it is among those those without faith. The lie has produced its fruit.

The purpose of my existence and yours, dear friend, is to know and love God as we serve Him in this world. He did not call us to Himself to make us rich, famous, or even necessarily happy. He called us to Himself that we might discover eternal life. As with my example from marriage, the life that is devoted to God, does ultimately find true joy and greater blessings, but not necessarily as defined by our present culture.

Jeremiah lamented that his people had traded the blessings of God for empty things. "...my people have traded my Glory for empty god-dreams and silly god-schemes. “Stand in shock, heavens, at what you see! Throw up your hands in disbelief—this can’t be!” God’s Decree. “My people have committed a compound sin: they’ve walked out on me, the fountain Of fresh flowing waters, and then dug cisterns— cisterns that leak, cisterns that are no better than sieves." (Jeremiah 2:11-13, The Message)

Show discernment, dear Believer.
Don't accept fool's gold of self-fulfillment in place of the true gold of the affirmation and approval of God. Pray for eyes that see the Truth. Learn to love the Lord, really love Him, not just for the 'blessings' the preachers of prosperity offer you, but for the joy of belonging to the God of Heaven and earth who is worthy of our worship.

“Come back, wandering children! I can heal your wanderlust!”

“We’re here! We’ve come back to you.
You’re our own true God!
All that popular religion was a cheap lie, duped crowds buying up the latest in gods.
We’re back!
Back to our true God, the salvation of Israel." (Jeremiah 3:22-23, The Message)