Sermon Reflection - Kara Childress

I got a lot out of the service on Saturday & then more out of the same service on Sunday morning. Saturday night when I first heard it I took notes (NOT because i was bored;), which I never do, but it helped. The line that really stuck in my head was that God has more reason then anyone in the world to ask us to do something. It really made me think. Like, we ask God for so much, from little things like helping with homework or getting through a fight with our friends to big things like dealing with death or moving. And then when God asks us to only worship him, to not cheat on him, we ignore it. Why? We like our stuff. We like the play gods. We like having a lot of things to choose from so if one fails we can just go to another. Different people, different reasons. But any way you look at it, we're rejecting God, choosing other things before him.

Then also on Saturday night, and more on Sunday too, I really got to thinking about what my play god or idol was. It took me a while but only because I didn't want to think i was wrong in any way. I kept saying it wasn't really an idol or it didn't really take the place of God. And that's part of idols. They don't look like they're replacing God until you really take a step back and look. So I found a lot of things that were working their way into becoming idols, but the main one I found was people's opinions. It doesn't really sound like an idol or a "play god" but it is. I pretty much worship people's views on me or my family or anything else. When I'm doing something I always think what people would like, not what God would like. I know lots of teens have a problem with self-image and peer pressure and whatever but for me I know it's a major problem. It's pushing God out of the picture. Sometimes it's because I don't want people to get mad if I don't text them back so I text them instead of reading my Bible. Sometimes it's listening to what other people want me to listen to when I know songs about sex and drugs are not something I should really be listening to. Sometimes it's watching movies I know go against my parent's rules because other people are watching it and I don't want them to think I'm weird or a goody goody. Those three aren't really life or death issues, but what happens when people around me think it's cool to smoke or drink? Will I do it to keep my image? Or will I do what I know God wants me to do? People's opinions are a major problem. They push in front of God & block him out. I'm still having problems with not caring so much what other people think, but I'm praying about it & trying to spend more time reading my Bible & really just talking to God. I'm working on thinking "what would GOD want me to do?" instead of "what would PEOPLE want me to do?" I know I'll never be perfect, but I'm trying hard to get the biggest idol in my life out of the way so I can have the relationship with God that he wants me to have.

kara :)