Have you ever loved something so much that you could barely contain your excitement? Maybe it’s your favorite band’s concert, a show or movie, a sports team, or an activity that you love. When you think of that thing, you feel like a kid on Christmas morning!
Loving things like that in this world is not bad. In fact, God loves it when we find joy in his creation. Imagine how you feel when you see kids open presents on Christmas—their excitement and joy is contagious! And it makes us feel good to give gifts. I imagine that’s how God feels when his children (that’s us!) find joy in the good gifts he gives.
But unfortunately, many times our love for God’s good gifts grows inordinate, and we start to worship the gifts instead of the One who gave them. Chapter 2 of Relationships: Teen Zine vol. 4 describes it this way:
“Humans can worship anything. Worship is an itch we all get in response to witnessing something or someone AMAZING. Some of us go so far as to worship ourselves.”
There are two truths at play here: God has created us to worship. AND he has created amazing things. This is where the mix-up happens and why God reminds us in the second commandment to not direct our worship toward things or people but in our Creator alone… this is for our good!
Again, the Relationships issue says:
“Our obsessive hearts and minds can only be entrusted to one God, our Creator. Everything else will fail us and leave our souls empty, longing, wanting more.”
NOTHING can satisfy like our God. When we put the pressure on ourselves, other people (maybe even our kids!), or created things to bring ultimate fulfillment to our lives, we are bound to be let down.
Some might then conclude that we should avoid attachment or be careful to not enjoy life too much. Like some kind of Jedi philosophy, we might think that we need to detach ourselves from the world and from love and relationships. After all, we don’t want them to become idols. But this is the opposite of what God is telling us in the second commandment. He tells us to not make created things idols SO THAT we can continue to find love and joy in those gifts, rather than resentment or disappointment, and in turn direct our worship to the One who made it all.
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” –James 1:17
Written by Juliette Alvey
