When good becomes god…
Tonight, our speaker, Nick Maddox, preached from Genesis 3. Our students had a lot of great insights from the message, but one of the things that we spent some time discussing was this: “the enemy loves it when good becomes god.” There is an incredible tendency in man to make the good things that God has given us bigger than they should be, we end up worshipping the things that are good and given by God rather than worshipping God himself.
High school sports, money, the American dream, music, the United States, a house, an animal, family, a husband or wife, a girlfriend or boyfriend… None of these things are bad, they are all good things, but if in our hearts they become more than they should be, if they become a god, then it will be impossible for us to have a right relationship with God.
I have found there to be a few ways to discover if a good thing has become god. The truest test is to fill in this blank; I could not live without… What could you not live without? If you truly could not live without something, it has crossed from good to god. This is a test that requires honest self-assessment.
There is a manifestation of the heart that I have also found to be very reliable. You can use the decision test. If “good-thing-a” and church come into conflict and “good-thing-a” takes priority every time, it has become more than it should.
This part is where some will push back. “I don’t need church,” some will say. Or, “my church is a road trip with my family… my church is my Bible on the patio… my church is…” Two things, first, if you are a believer, you need church. Faith, from the beginning has always been meant to be lived out in community. It is designed by God to be lived and grown in community with others, in church. New and Old Testament alike, the people of God are meant to be in community.
Second, if God is real and the church belongs to Him (the Bride of Christ), your opinion of what “church” is means nothing. The only thing that matters is how God defines church. The clearest picture of which is found in Acts 2:42-47. If you believe God is real and the Bible is true, then you must go with the picture of the church that the Bible gives us.
There is a third way to find out if good things have become god in your life. A good accountability partner. I have found that in Christian life these are all too rare. You need a man if you’re a man or a woman if you are a woman, a person who can speak truth into your life when you are struggling to follow God faithfully. These people can look at your life and answer these questions honestly when you in your own heart struggle to be truthful with yourself. Accountability partners must be willing to speak boldly and must be pursuing Christ, if either of these is untrue, they cannot serve in this role.
What could you not live without and what things trump church every time? These are two good questions that can help you discover if good things have become god. Our students will be spending time each morning and evening diving into God’s word, please be in prayer for them as they answer questions like these.
