The Bible Is Not a Menu

God detests graven images. They mislead people. They give false views of God, and nothing is more destructive than that. But our greater problem is not carved idols, but mental idols.
We form mental pictures of God. People constantly say, “I like to think of God as the great Father in the skies. I do not like to think of him as a judge.”
But our desires have nothing to do with God’s true character.
I shudder when I hear the way some people speak of God. Quite frankly, it does not make the slightest bit of difference what I prefer to think of God.
God is who He is and what He is and that is why any false image of God of any sort is forbidden. Human concepts of God are irrelevant. God has revealed Himself, and He demands that our understanding of Him conform to what He has revealed about Himself in His Word.
Our society does not worship before a molten idol, but it does worship an artificial god.
Our generation knows almost nothing of the living God who has spoken in Scripture. The great danger is that we, as Christians, begin to bow down and worship false gods as well. So it is essential that every Christian engages in a study of the attributes of God.
Anything in our lives to which we attach the worth and importance that belongs only to God becomes an idol in our lives. Idolatry is not a relic of the past; it is a constant problem for every believer.
That is the first danger point in the portrayal of spiritual anarchy. It is religion without revelation, religious practice without God’s truth.
How committed are you to the truth of Scripture? How biblical is your view of God? Is your God molded by the philosophies of the age? A believer must let God “be Himself” in our lives.
We filter out either consciously or unconsciously the things about God that our hearts can’t accept. In some ways, this is the main sin of our time.
We look to the latest chatter at Starbucks for our doctrine rather than go to the source of the Savior Himself. How often have you heard someone say: “I don’t believe in a God like that,” or “I like to think of God as this?”
The most serious way we do this is by consciously and intellectually rejecting part of the scriptural revelation of God. We do this whenever we say: “We can no longer accept a God who does this, or who forbids that.”
When we use the term “no longer,” we wrap ourselves in the mantle of so-called progress. In fact, what we are really saying is:
“Our culture’s distaste for this idea means we must drop it.”
If God has given us the truth, it doesn’t really matter what we think! If we change His words to accommodate our ways, we will eventually forfeit His will.
Have you ever been to a restaurant? What do you receive when you sit at the table? You get a menu with many choices.
The waitress can’t tell you what you are going to be eating. The chef doesn’t limit you to his or her favorite dishes. You can decide to dine on whatever you want whether it is healthy or not.
You can order five desserts. You have the final say about what will be served to you.
This is not true at the family dinner table. My mom was very strict. If she made something for dinner, she didn’t give us many options. We didn’t dare say, “I don’t like this, is there anything else?”
Mom made it clear that her kitchen was not a restaurant. If you didn’t like what was on your plate, your only decision was that you were not going to eat at all.
There would be other times that I would really like the main course but felt like it was ruined by something like cooked carrots sitting beside it.
I was never given the luxury to choose to eat just the meat and pass on the veggies. If it was served, you were sitting there until it was all polished off.
I remember praying not to gag as I was forced to swallow one mouthful of carrots after another. But if I wanted the chicken, I accepted the carrots as part of the package.
The Bible is not a menu. Believers do not have the luxury to pick and choose what they will dine on and what they will deny any entrance into their bodies.
God’s word is a banquet for the soul, and if you want to become all that the Lord intends you to be, you must partake of everything that God serves up.
God doesn’t care if you like it or if it makes you happy any more than my Mother gave much thought to my suggestions of what she might do with those mushy carrots.
I ate it because I had to and I must admit that it did help me grow healthy even if it made my stomach rebel.
God feeds us with divine dishes that provide a balanced supply of all the proper spiritual vitamins and nutrients we need.
If we choose to replace the heaven cooked meals with earthly versions of junk food, we will never be strong enough to walk the journey of the life of faith that God has called us to.
Church is not a restaurant, it is a family table and the Father knows what you need and what you don’t. Will we submit our appetites to Him?
It is written must be the way of life. Even when you don’t like it, the Lord loves you enough to lead you to spiritual maturity. But you have to trust Him and let Him feed you with what is on His stove because the church is not a restaurant, it’s a family dinner.
ED. NOTE: The author is the senior pastor of The Lighthouse Church, 1248 Route 9 South, Court House.