Do I carry my god, or does God carry me?

How would I react if the person working next to me came into the office one morning and set a box on his desk, telling everyone that his god was in that box? How would I respond if he opened the box and took out a folded paper figure and said that this figure was going to make him a great success and fulfill all his needs? How would that person respond if it was me who had the box?

The idols forbidden to God’s people in the Old Testament were carvings created by men and carried by oxen from one place to another. In a description from Isaiah 46, God says “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.”

When laid out in such certain terms, the foolishness of worshiping an idol is clear. However, idol worship can creep into the heart of anyone. As John Calvin said, the human heart is an idol-making factory. We were created to worship, to seek a god that would meet our needs. While we don’t carve idols in our culture, even Christians can fall into the worship of things like money, prestige, people, ideals, education, sports, and so on.

Our less obvious idols even bear some resemblance to what God says about these visible and man-made carvings. For one thing, they are carried like burdens by those who worship them. The person who thinks that fame and fortune will rescue him from all troubles becomes captive to the idol they worship, serving it with all his heart and soul, but that idol like all idols cannot deliver . . .  

They stoop; they bow down together; they cannot save the burden, but themselves go into captivity . . . They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble. (Isaiah 46:1–13)

Instead of carrying the burden of an idol, God calls to us: “Listen to me . . .  (you) who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.”

Then He adds, “To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike?”

The gods of then and now may resemble one another, but nothing compares to the true God, the one of whom Jesus said, “The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength . . .” (Mark 12:28–31)

Idols, then and now, are useless. Anything that seems to be powerful about them is an illusion. They are completely unable to pay back any of the homage we give them . . .  

Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. (1 Corinthians 8:4–6)

Whatever I rely on instead of God is an idol that cannot deliver. It cannot forgive me, wash away my sin, or make me a better person that is equipped to minister to others. Nor can any idol make the claim of being the only God who stands alone and is superior to all. How foolish to create a god to replace the one who created me and sustains my existence. 

Idols and the writing on the wall

So far, this study called “No other gods” has verified that anything I put in the place of God cannot fill the empty places in my life. Only God can do that, and only God knows the best way to do that. I cannot devise a scheme or a god that will fulfill my needs and grant peace and satisfaction.

Today’s verses reiterate the uselessness of gods. While this passage speaks of crafted idols and images, its truths also fit the idols of today — money, things, people, prestige and so on . . .  

Thus shall you say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.” It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses. Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish. (Jeremiah 10:11–15)

How stupidly we think that anything can replace God. Only God can speak and make rain and wind. Only God is alive and true. All images and idols are powerless, without life and false. They will not pass that final test of death and judgment.

Jeremiah repeats these same contrasts later, adding that God “established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses. Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish. Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the Lord of hosts is his name”. (Jeremiah 51:15–19)

Whether my idols are tangible things or shaped by my desires and imagination, there is no profit in them for they are worthless and powerless. Only God almighty can take care of me. Only God is eternal and holy and can bless me as I worship Him.

What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols! Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it. But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him. (Habakkuk 2:18–20)

The Bible is filled with examples of those who trusted themselves and their idols. One example is King Belshazzar who feasted and “praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.” But God sent him a message on one festive occasion, and he called Daniel to interpret writing that appeared on the wall.

Belshazzar was greatly alarmed and rightly so. Daniel told him that his interpretation came from God, as did the message. It said that because this king ignored the lessons from his father’s life, and “praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know” but did not honor God “in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways” then “God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end.” He had been “weighed in the balances and found wanting” and his “kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians”

Belshazzar honored Daniel and made him the third ruler in the kingdom, but “that very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom . . . .” (Daniel 5:31)

This man’s life was lost because he worshiped idols. My life with God is set aside whenever I substitute anything to take His place. Only God can fill the empty places in my life and give me peace and security. Nothing and no one else can take His place.

I am NOT God

A few years ago, a well-known actress twirled about on a beach chanting the exciting discovery, “I am God” — not even a small “g” — as she decided that in essence she is the creator of all things.

This actress and others who have come to her same conclusion, would have a field day with a phrase from these verses in the New Testament. Unfortunate for them, the phrase does not stand alone. It must be read in its context.  

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (2 Peter 1:2–4)

The phrase is: “you may become partakers of the divine nature.” This looks something like “I am God” but then the other phrases in this passage clarify that being a partaker of the divine nature is not the same thing as becoming God.

Peter writes that grace and peace are multiplied to his readers “in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord.” The word used here for “knowledge” means “full discernment.” It isn’t about awareness of their existence, but a much deeper knowing, even a personal relationship with God and Jesus Christ. He also says “our Lord” which implies a shared submission. If everyone is God, how can you submit to all of them?

Next, Peter says that God’s divine power grants to His people everything they need for life and godliness. Even those who think they are God have no rational basis to assume they created their own life. No one can plan their own conception and birth.

As for making godliness of their own doing, they must change the meaning of the word. This is not about being godlike (even if they get that definition correct), but is about being holy. Holiness is “other than” — totally pure and utterly far above all other things. To have this bestowed by God results in a contrite and humble heart. To boast that “I am godly” immediately makes it not so. Godliness never includes pride.

God calls His people to His glory and excellence. He is not in the business of making me all that I can be, but is transforming me into the image of His Son. This cannot happen unless He deals with my sinful desires. One of those is to “be like God” as suggested to Eve in Eden. She was already made in His image, but that was not enough. This desire led her to temptation and sin. Since God is sinless, her and Adam’s disobedience ruined the image. It is being in this image of God that faith in Christ restores.

That means the essence of Deity is never mine, as Satan suggested to Eve. However, as the first humans were initially created in the image of God, by the renewal of the Holy Spirit I am also recreated in the image of the Most High. It is in this sense that Christians are partakers of the divine nature.

For instance, “God is love” and by the filling of the Holy Spirit, we become able to love like He does. “He that loves is born of God.”

God is truth. Those who believe in Him become true and lovers of whatever is true. He is good, and He makes us good by His Spirit and grace. Apart from Him, “There is no one who is good.”

He also makes us members of the body of Christ and puts the life of Christ in us. In that way, Christians become partakers of the divine nature in a higher sense than merely by how we think and act. Because of His power, the same life that makes Jesus alive also is our life. 

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — (Ephesians 2:4–5)

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Our union with Christ is the only reason for any godliness or Godlikeness that we possess. It is this life that ought to make us stand out in our sinful and dark world. All that we say and do should flow from the One who lives in our hearts and gives us life. To say that any goodness I have is my own is arrogance. To say that I am God is sheer blasphemy.

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Lord, as Your Word says, godliness is a mystery. Yet this mystery has been revealed by Your Spirit. You say it is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” So many times I’ve patted myself on the back instead of giving You the glory for all that You have done in me. Forgive me. As for those who think they are good, or that their “goodness” is their own, or who think they have become deity, have mercy. Forgive them, give them light and draw them from this deception into truth.