Day 326: Made For More

Ephesians 5:1-20; Ezekiel 14-15; Isaiah 44

Paul talks about living as people of the light in these scriptures. The reason we aren't to do the immoral or disgusting things is that we are children of God, people of the light, meant to be like God. God doesn't want us to have any part of those immoral things because they are like worshiping idols, destroying the relationship Christ died for, and ruining the love and work that the Spirit has placed in us. It isn't that God is trying to keep us from having fun, as a lot of people without Christ like to claim. It's that with a transformed heart should come a transformed life, and as God's creation, we were made for more noble and holy things than that.

In Ezekiel, some people (well, actually a lot) were worshiping idols, then coming to prophets like Ezekiel for a message from God. They were double-dipping and two-timing God and he wanted nothing of it. The Lord had no sympathy, no mercy, for people who lived this way and I'm sure it infuriates him even today. People who go to church or pray over meals, but seek comfort and guidance in something else--they will not receive the blessing of God.

In this passage in Isaiah, God is reminding his people who he is. He is the living God, the Creator, the one who knows the future and wipes away sins. Those who worship idols are blind. They bow down to something made by human hands. How can something fashioned from wood or iron by a person be of any help to that person? God begs his people to turn to him and him alone and worship him. That way, God can pour out blessings and grace upon them. Our God wants to bless us. We just have to love him enough to turn away from the idols in our lives and live for him alone, worshiping him alone, and preaching Christ.