1 Thes 1:9 ...how you turned to God from the idols to serve a living and true God. Gal 4:8 However at that time, not knowing God, you were slaves to the gods which by nature are not gods.
The first characteristic of the Christian life is that we turn to God from idols. Actually, every human being worships something. Everyone has a spirit, a spiritual stomach. In our physical stomach we are hungry for food, and in our spiritual stomach we are hungry for God. Our spirit, our spiritual stomach, is for worshipping God, contacting Him, receiving Him, and containing Him. Both our physical stomach and our spiritual stomach were created by God. During the day we must eat a number of times to satisfy the hunger of our physical stomach. In the same way, everyone worships something in order to satisfy the hunger in his spiritual stomach, the spirit. For this reason, all people worship something. Whether we worship a false god or the true God is another question. The point we are making here is that everyone, including atheists, worships something. Do you know what atheists worship? They worship themselves, for they are their own god. Others worship education, fame, or position, all of which are idols. When many pursue certain forms of worldly amusement, they act without restraint, seeming even to forget their own names. In this way, their pursuit of entertainment becomes the worship of idols. Many of us still need a further turn from certain idols unto God. Anything other than God that draws our attention or anything that distracts us from God is an idol. Any who are distracted in this way need a further turn to God from their idols. The Christian life must have the turning to God from idols as its first characteristic.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Thessalonians, pp. 15-17. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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