The "Baals" in Our Lives?

THEME: If Jesus is not our focus, the idols of the world will look magical.

As we listened to Pastor Dan’s message on Jesus’ letter to the church in Thyatira, did you also wonder how a church whose deeds of love, faith, service, and perseverance were seen and commended by Jesus could also allow the influence of Jezebel from over 400 years earlier, in the Book of Kings? The answer lies in understanding who Jezebel was and the deeper spirit she represented centuries later.

“In the thirty-eighth year of Asa, king of Judah, Ahab, son of Omri, became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years. Ahab, son of Omri, did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple he built for Baal in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.” (1 Kings‬ ‭16‬:‭29‬-‭33‬ ‭NIV). ‬‬‬‬

I find it interesting that the Israelites demanded an earthly king to rule over them, and God granted them their wishes, only to have those wishes bear fruit in the realm of Ahab. The evil of Ahab then compounded, as sin always does, into Jezebel and state-sponsored, idol-worshipping religion. It is a microcosm of people seeking self-rule and independence from God, leading to sin that compounds and has its influence extend to future generations.

In Thyatira, centuries later, we may not see the same worship of Baal, although it persisted. The reason I believe this is that a church that God is blessing and that displays all the fruits of the Spirit, as seen in the church at Thyatira, could not have members actively worshipping Baal, as the Israelites did in the time of Ahab and Jezebel, could it? If we accept that, we must assume that what Jesus is describing is idol worship in likeness to the influence of Jezebel, as we see today, in the worship of money, power, sex, beauty, and more. And when he writes about “her," He is writing about those who follow her example from the Book of Kings.

Pastor Dan has led us through these letters because each of the seven letters to the churches is also a letter to the Church of Jesus Christ today. As the church in Thyatira was serving, loving, growing, and being blessed, it was also susceptible to the double-minded worship of the idols of this world. So too are we susceptible, individually, and collectively, to the Jezebel-like draw of the world.

I love what Pastor said about sin and how it always hurts us and others, and, as always, Satan deceptively disguises sin as magical. It is only after we dabble in it that it loses its magic and must be continued as medicinal. The same sin that the evil one introduced to us as magical leads to our misery.

As I write this blog, with such a sense of agonizing inadequacy, my only remedy for the influence of idols is complete and total surrender, and the death of self. Isn’t that the reason God’s Word emphasizes that repeatedly? Are we willing to do this daily?

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SCRIPTURE: Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭24‬-‭25 ‭(NIV)

‭‭“Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.”

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PRAYER:

Lord, is the reason I become too often enamored with the things of the world because I allow the things I can see and touch become more real than you? Do I spend more time with the things of the world than I do you? The answer to all is more often, sadly, yes. I get caught up in the news, in sports, and in something else designed brilliantly to attract my attention, thinking it is benign, when it is far from that. Lord, always restore on me the hunger of your Word, and the need to just be in your presence, not to petition or plead, but just to bask in your light. As always, Lord, I pray that you show me your face and let me come to know you in a way that overshadows all the artificial reality of this world. Thank you for allowing me to see that fear, worry, and frustration are also idols whom I too often worship. Let me only see you, Jesus, more and more. Amen