How Close is Too Close Part 2

So last week I was talking about the world and how far Christians should be removed from it. I said that this week I was going to delve deeper into the practical applications of this though I will admit up front that I am not expert in this area, but with that said let’s dive right in.

I am one of those guys who like black and white but I realize that in many realms there is a lot of grey. Things that are good can become bad though things that are sinful only get worse. What I come to realize as I think on this is that we are really talking about idolatry. We often see idolatry as bowing down to a little wooden statue and thus think that Americans have that commandment down. But an idol basically is whatever you have in your life that takes the place of God. I am not talking about things that are overtly sinful either. These things can be things that would be considered alright or even good. A great example of this is that I used to listen to a lot of sermons. Of course there is nothing wrong with learning about God’s word and how to live it out, but I found myself listening to so many that I was neglecting my relationship with God. I had to stop listening to sermons in order to actually learn from God. In this scenario something good, listening to sermons, became a sin because it became more important to me than my relationship with God.

There are many other things that fall under these sorts of categories. Is it sinful to watch TV? Not if you are careful about which programs you watch, but if you watch too much of anything it becomes an idol and then becomes sin. Is it wrong to play a video game? Not in many cases but once again it can consume your time and affections and then becomes a sin. Probably the greatest idol for Americans today is sports. There is nothing wrong with watching a football game but if it becomes more important to you than spending time with God then it becomes an idol

I am aware that as a Christian we do have “liberties”. But my experience is that Christian liberty is the backsliders favorite doctrine. So putting liberty aside lets deal with what would be the best God has for us, as that is what we all want I would hope. I have found in my own life that the things that I prefer to excuse under the banner of Christian liberties are the things that have become, or may soon become idols in my life. If there is anything in our lives that is too precious to us to let go of then it probably will be best if we sacrifice it for God. I know that every one of us has things that immediately come to mind when we hear something like this and our first reaction is to say if it is not a sin than I will not be rid of it but I think whenever we give up something to grow closer to God it will only amount to good in our lives. God bless and have a great day.