Isaiah asks,
"Does idolatry make any logical sense?" If I create something out of something that
is itself created where does it get power?
We aren't above this type of idolatry.
I had a business once that was quite successful until one of my partners
decided to commit fraud and we lost the business. I clung to the hope of resurrection of the
business because I had some belief that it was important and necessary to
provide for my family. Idols come in all
shapes and sizes. They can be other
people, church, houses, cars, money, jobs, family, etc. In our culture we have idols of all sorts,
they are the things we worship, the things that turn us away from God, demand
our attention and our very lives be committed to them. Everything that is an idol was created by God
because nothing exists without His action.
He alone is worthy because he
alone is uncreated.
Everyone had an
opinion about Jesus. His family hears
that extraordinary things are happening and crowds are coming to Him and yet
the family is coming to get Him for they (whoever they are) were saying He was
out of His mind. The religious leaders
conclude that all that Jesus does is through the power of Beelzebul, a
demon. Jesus uses the same sort of logic
we saw in Isaiah to destroy that particular thought. Does it make any sense that satan is working
against satan? Jesus says that blasphemy
against the Holy Spirit, attributing His work to satan, is the unpardonable
sin. God's work is always to give glory
to Him, and He will not share it with another.
There is something horrible about the idea of attributing the work of
God to a demon.
Paul says we are to be
renewed in our minds. Proverbs says that
as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
Paul knows that the transformation of person is accomplished by the
renewing of the mind. If we are to
change our behavior and our futures, we have to first change our mind. We lead with the mind. Our first question when someone does
something stupid is, "What were they thinking?" Intuitively, we know that thoughts lead to
action and if we can fix the thinking we can avoid some mistakes. Listen to where Paul lays blame for sin,
" in the futility of their
minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God
because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart." The mind, the understanding and the ignorance
but all is due to hardness of heart, just like Pharaoh. If we are to be changed into His likeness it
begins with the mind, thinking differently, thinking like Him. Asking the question, "Does it make any
sense?"
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