Ephesus, 60 A.D., The Great Temple of Artemis.
Idols were a way of life. Idols, Greco-Roman mythology, oriental cults, mystery cults...it was excitement, it was reputation, it was status, it was identity, and it was striving. In his letter to the Ephesians and surrounding gentiles, Paul calls the young church, newly christian Gentiles out of striving, into a solid truth, and a love, "10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." (Eph. 1:10) A fullness only God alone can provide. Tonight my bible school and I went out to a few locations here in Ensenada, to pray over the city, one of which being to the water god idol. Its an asian idol, from the Tibet/Nepal area, and she sits outside of one of Ensenada's water sources. She had been knocked down previously by the catholic church, but the dispute was given into the Mexican government's hands, and they repaired her and simply placed a fence around her. We began sensing the atmosphere, and leaned into prayer. As I looked at her face, my insides shut down a little bit, a hopeless tiredness. To be honest, she was ugly, and strange looking, with weird features that all meant something, and strange colors. My eyes fell to the place where her podium she was seated on met the ground, and surveyed the flowers, the baskets, the dolls, the pretty trinkets left there...I looked up an saw the artistic flags woven around her with beautiful writing on them. They were prayers written in Asian symbols. Tears welled up hotly in the back of my eyes, and my heart fell apart. {Papa, show them!... How long? How long will they be left to strive?} These people, empty and striving, had poured their hearts out at the foot of that idol. Choosing the prettiest flowers, leaving such earnest offerings, the best they had to offer, and Satan gladly took those pure heart offerings and crushed them. He took them and promptly dropped them in the middle of the street to be trampled, as is his delight. To empty. To cause striving. To keep in a state of constant dissatisfaction. To give no hope. "More!", he demands, "it's your fault if it fails, you could be better,"...and chuckles to himself. {How long Papa?? When will they know the hope to which you have called them, the love you lavish on them, the fullness you offer?} My nose began to run, and I had two thoughts. 1. Idols are not so different in my own life. My dreams are my idol. I think that if I can achieve what ever my perception of greatness is, then I will be full. And I hold tight to it, strive for it, make decisions based on it, asking myself 'will this get me to where I want to go?'... My relationships are my idol. I think that 'if I can do this and make this person happy, they will love me and I will be full...' My reputation is my idol. What people think about me is important. It's my identity. I am wise if they say I am, and if they say I am not worth being around, then I am not... And I began to realize how empty it all is. Pour your life, your heart's offering, at the foot of prosperity, relationships, lovers, reputation...and walk away having your heart offering trampled in the street. No one to validate it which you have poured out, no one to hear the desperate cry to be loved, only lovers who turn their backs and leave you naked and defiled, tears and dust. {Fullness is found in God alone. He knows me, He holds me, He loves me.} Papa feels as deeply as we do, he knows our longing, and He fills it. He is safe, and he is the only one who will not violate us...ever. 2. My second thought, was- what an extravagant display of worship were those trinkets and flags...What if every time we came into the presence of the Lord, we were painfully honest with ourselves, completely vulnerable with Him, raw and open. What if we could bless him by leaving our heart offering, completely genuine, pouring out our devotion to the One who is safe, the One who is Love, the One who knows, the One who sees, the One who has been and will be. The One who is Full. The glory of God is found in his fullness, and in God alone is fullness found.
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