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Turning Sacred Into Wrong
2 Kings 18:4
"He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan."
One of the acts that led to one of the greatest revivals in the history of Israel is found in the verse above. It says that Hezekiah "...brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made:..." What was it about this brasen serpent that caused Hezekiah to brake it in pieces? This brasen serpent that was supposed to be used as a reminder of what God did for Israel became the object of worship for the children of Israel. The brasen serpent was supposed to remind them of how they were saved from death during one of the plagues because they looked to it when Moses lifted it up. These people had turned something sacred into something wrong. They turned something that was to remind them of Jehovah God into something that led them away from the One Whom they were to serve. It is hard to believe that they took something that was supposed to be a sacred reminder and turned it into an object to worship.
However, I find in Christianity that there are many Christians who serve the object and not the God of the object. What I mean by this is that many Christians have spiritualized the act instead of understanding the purpose of it. For instance, there are many Christians who believe they are right with God just because they go to church. They believe their trip to church on Sunday and Wednesday is what makes them spiritual. Church as become more of a ritual that makes them feel that they have done their obligation for the week. There are many Christians who worship the act of going to church instead of allowing God to speak to them while they are at church. Yes, we are to obey God's command and going to church, but just because you go to church does not make you spiritual.
Likewise, going soul winning does not make you spiritual. There are many people who believe they are right with God simply because they go soul winning. There are others who think teaching a Sunday school class or running a bus route makes them spiritual. We often make the object more spiritual than what it really is. Though these are things we should strive to do, they are only a tool to help us become what God wants us to be.
Just because we do what God commands us to do does not give us a right to sin. This is the danger of spiritualizing the act. Just because you go to church every Sunday and Wednesday does not give you a right to commit sin the rest of the week. It is the life you live and your heart of obedience towards God that makes you right with Him. You can go soul winning like God commands, but it is doing right after you go soul winning that makes you right with Him. Just because you walk an aisle and kneel down to pray does not make you right with God. What makes you right with God is leaving the altar and doing what you decided to do at that altar.
Christian, be careful about turning something that is a tool to help you stay right with God into something wrong. Be careful that you don't think performing spiritual acts makes you spiritual and that it allows you to let sin reign in your heart. The object or the act is not what makes you spiritual, it is your heart towards God and sin removed that makes you spiritual. Always remember that doing the things God commands you to do is only part of staying right with Him. Be careful not to worship the act or the object, but worship and obey the God Who commands you to do the act.