Focus: Know Your Source

Text: Hos.14:8

"Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found."

God says to Ephraim, "From me is thy fruit found." Ephraim needed to hear that from God, because he had been wasting God's resources on idols. But now Ephraim is sick and tired of idols. He says, "What have I to do any more with idols?" John writes, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen" (1Jh.5:21). Idols impoverish our souls and spirits, and even devastate our bodies. Idols enslave us. Idols are shackles Satan uses to take our loyalty away from God. Idols are cheap substitutes for God. What are a few of these idols?

*INDULGENCES

Man has turned pleasure into an idol. We worship pleasure and bow at the shrine of the appetite.

*DREAMS

Man has placed his personal or national dreams above God. Our dreams have become our idols. We pursue them like nothing else matters.

*OCCUPATION

Man worships his work. In his thinking and pursuits, work comes first before God.

*LUSTS

Man has intense and immense desires that seem to dominate and control his whole life. We live by lust and call it love. We lust for things and we are possessed by them. We are suffering from the disease of lusts - lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes.

*SELF

Self is very much at the heart of our very existence. Virtually all that we do, we do for self. We even regard self-preservation as the first law of the universe. We consider ourselves first before others. We prefer ourselves over others. It doesn't matter who goes to hell as long as we are able to have our own way. Our ego sits right on the throne of our lives. We are selfish and possessive. We are suffering from a disease known as "the pride of life." We parade our self-importance and brag about our self-sufficiency.

Ephraim is bored with idols. He has not profited by them. Life has not gotten better for Ephraim because of idols. Of course, idols cannot satisfy the longing of the heart. 

Things cannot take the place of God. God is love, but love is not God. God is good, but good is not God. Nothing in this life can replace God. God is irreplaceable.

Abandon the idols and go back to your God! God is your source. He says to you, "For without me you can do nothing" (Jh.15:5). God is your source. He is the source of your life and success. You are nothing without God. You own nothing that you do not owe to God. Jesus Christ says, "A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven" (Jh.3:27). 

It is only by Christ that you can do all things, not by your own power. He is the source of your hope and everything else. In Christ you live, move and have your being or essence.

Idols are very expensive to keep. With idols in your life you will not be able to appreciate God as your source. As Ephraim followed idols everywhere and lavished her God-given resources on them, God says of him, "For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal" (Hos.2:8). God was loving Ephraim, but he was busy loving idols. God even threatened to take away from him all that he had given him. God says, "Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will uncover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness" (Hos.2:9). 

Don't let God strip you bare for your spiritual waywardness and idolatry! Do away with fake sources! Recognize God as your only source and sustainer! Fix your eyes on God who is your source, and serve Him with all diligence. God will never put up with illegitimate sources in your life. You cannot serve God and mammon. Elijah says to the people of Israel, "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him" (1Kgs.18:21). God will not tolerate any kind of syncretism, a situation where God and idols are meant to coexist in one's own life. Know your source; and God is your source.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter