As of September 1, 2024, just about 75 of us from EFUMC and friends of EFUMC will be 245 days into daily reading the bible using a chronological reading plan so that we will have read the entire bible by December 31, 2024. At day 245, we are still about a month out, reading daily, from starting the New Testament.
Let me summarize the main points thus far. 1. God loves us. 2. God takes God’s covenant with people SERIOUSLY. 3. God will not allow infidelity to the covenant, idolatry, to go unpunished. 4. God will go to extreme lengths to get our attention. Being loved by God doesn’t exempt us from the consequences of our sin. God disciplines those whom God loves. 5. No matter how deeply we’ve grieved God, how grossly we have been unfaithful, how angry we have made God, God’s heart is to make a way for us to be restored.
At the heart of our covenant with God, we promise that God gets the first place in our whole being, our daily life, our inmost desires. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are first in all things. This means that our relationship, attention to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is an intentional pursuit and commitment. When we look back at the Old Testament, what we read over and over (and over) again is that the people of Israel and Judah abandoned God, worshipped other gods, built pagan altars, defiling their relationship with God through infidelity, “taking idols into their hearts.” (Ezekiel 14:3)
I haven’t been able to shake that verse, “they have taken idols into their hearts.” I’ve been asking God to show me what “idols” I have set up in my heart that push God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit from their rightful place in my whole being, my daily life, and my inmost dreams and desires. I find that I am struggling to trust God with the “every day”. I have been raised to be a self-sufficient, problem-solving, make a plan then work the plan, person. Which is great when I surrender my will to God’s heart in process. Unfortunately, right now, I’m more focused on not failing than I am focused on letting God carry the burden. There is an idol of success and approval that is too heavy for me to carry.
As I ask God to show me about my own areas of repentance and restoration, I am asking God to show me where, as a church, we might have struggle to keep God first. I’m going to invite to you pray, to ask God to show you where God is no longer first in your whole being, in your daily life, and your inmost hopes and dreams. If you’re not sure what might be an “idol”, try to identify places in your life where God doesn’t get your first and best. Does God get the first and best of your time? Does God get the first and best of your trust? Does God get the first and best of you finances/resources? Does God get the first and best of your thoughts? Your words? Are you making room for God in your life or is God the center of you life and you make room for other things after that. Is God first?
In the coming weeks, months, we’ll be talking, praying, repenting, and hopefully, restoring God to God’s proper place in all the areas of our whole being, daily life, and inmost dreams and desires. Do we want the church to grow? Do we want to share the love of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit with others? Do we want to be spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically, and financially healthy? Do we want our families to be healthy and whole? Do we want to see good done in the world? Then God must be first.
Re-aligning my heart,
Pastor Michelle
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