Our world is lost. It's lost in "self".
The idol that many serve today is not one like King Nebuchadnezzar's golden statue (which was 90ft tall). It is not even like the golden calf.. no, today's idol is "self".
The last two days I have never seen so much entitlement from our country. It has arrived by the thousands and it has showed it self in many forms. One group in particular (yes, I'm going there) the women, who no longer long to be classified as hospitable (like Lydia), submissive (like Sarah), gentle or lovely (like Mary), but rather powerful and deserving.
The enemy is so sneaky. He has snuck into holes where he can find division among us and even snuck into the minds of those feeling mistreated and as a minority. Minority being- people "feeling" they are treated less than others by society; and, statistically women are classified as one of those groups who would have less power. But, there are MANY groups of people today feeling this way. It's time to stop playing the victim of self-pity.
The devil has now given minority groups a baton of destructive entitlement. You see, all throughout the Bible, satan lurks upon the insecure, the lonely, the weak, and even the one who feels like they are owned more or are owed something greater. I have written this before, but ...we are owed nothing.
I look at the disciples and think about how the twelve were ordinary and even sometimes treated poorly. They were not powerful but treated poorly for many reasons, not only because of who they followed (Christ), but some even treated poorly because of the location they were from, their jobs they had held, and their heritage.
The battles and protests being fought the last two days in our culture are inspired by someone feeling socially less than, or someone having less power, or even some feeling fear. People are joining movements and lining-up by the thousands for causes that are not of eternal value. The Book of Timothy talks about this and explains how people follow 'what their itching ears want to hear' in the end times. These movements are people's sanctuaries, they are equivalent to a teacher, leader, or even pastor giving false education. These movements encourage people to become their own god. They encourage people to be idol of self. These groups breed false teachings and they are popping up everywhere. Many of these groups when being interviewed explain that they are enraged because of feeling fear, feeling mistreated, feeling like they have less opportunity to gain power, or less opportunity to gain wealth.
My mind could not stop thinking about the twelve disciples yesterday as I would scroll my disgusting newsfeed. The disciples were the minority, especially after the pharisees and sadducees verbally attacked Jesus and accused him of false lies. The disciples stood with Jesus. They were not speaking up for themselves for being viewed as less.
BUT then, there was the one who spoke up. The one who was going to protest for himself, the one who went out and raged for "himself". He had fear, he had self-motive and he looked for his best interest to gain wealth..... His name was Judas.....Judas felt he wasn't being treated fair. We know this because his scope of feeling like he was treated fair revolved around himself and not the glory of having enough in Christ. He did not have the glory of feeling fulfilled to be in the friendship of Jesus, the Messiah. Jesus made it clear to Judas that he planned to die and he was not going to start a fight or a rebellion against the Romans. Judas protested against Jesus (behind his back). He betrayed him.
God's word says the foolish are blinded from truth. They believe what they want to hear.
John Piper explains there are three reasons we become spiritually blind:
1). Sin
2). Satan himself
3). The Lord's sovereign judgment
The third one is scary. It is the one where God hardens the heart. It is the one where you abandon God and he abandons you.
Read John 12: it talks about Judas' greedy comments toward Mary's act of love in dispensing oil on Jesus before his death. The irony is, John 12 also talks about the hardening of the hearts and how the people loved the pharisees praise over God's praise (43. for they loved human praise more than praise from God.).
Lastly, John 12:40
“He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
nor understand with their hearts.
The world is embracing self-promotion and self-entitlement more now than ever. This is the most deceitful of all sins, because it feels good -so it must be good, but that is false. That is how the sneaky devil operates. Judas felt good too, until Satan was literally inside him. Judas ended up killing himself.
Christians, we must stop this self -deserving and self-entitlement attitude. God knows the just and unjust. He promised to come as a just and upright judge. What side of judgment do you want to be sitting on when He returns? Will you be blinded by your self idol or will you be waiting with your eyes wide open- looking toward the sky (even if the unjust are pressing down upon you)?