This Seat's Taken!

Ever feel frustrated?
Ever feel not good enough?
Ever feel like there has to be more to life than this!
Ever wonder why you it seems like as soon as you get focused, you're right back to searching for clarity?
Ever wonder why you feel the need to keep up with the Jones?'

It all comes down to one reason . . . as Christians we have amnesia or maybe it's because we are TOO polite. How? Simple, the one thing we MUST say and remember is, 'This seat's taken!'

See there is a chair, a throne if you will, in your heart, in my heart and there is ONLY ONE Entity who should sit on it. . . Jesus Christ.  The problem is, as believers we have the WORST case of amnesia. Either we have forgotten the seat is taken or we are too polite to pipe up and say, 'This seat's taken!' We not only don't say it to other people, we won't even say it to ourselves in our own spirit.

There is a reason why the Bible tells us 'we must guard the good deposit in our hearts and with the help of the Holy Spirit protect its precious truth.' (2nd Timothy 1:14). In other words, we must learn to say, 'This seat's taken!'

We let way too many things take lordship over our lives: our husband, our wife, our job, our girlfriend, our boyfriend, our money, our family, our reputation and many more. Those are good things, but if we kick Yeshua (Jesus' name in Hebrew) off the throne of our hearts in favor of any of those, we are committing idolatry.

And God's Word is very clear about idolatry. 'Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be their's.' (Jonah 2:8). Or 1st Samuel 12:21, which says, 'Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are worthless!'

We kick Jesus off His throne far too many times and then curiously, and ironically, wonder why where our joy went! Why am I not happy? Why am I frustrated? Why am I not content? The dangerous thing is. . .

Where the Danger Lies

While it's a dangerous enough thing to rob God of His glory, thus, in essence, telling Him something is better, the dangerous thing is when we take sin and make it an idol. When we do that, it becomes a foothold and once Satan gets a foothold, he will soon get a stronghold. What do strongholds become? ADDICTIONS! Think about it. If it's a bad thing for good things to become idols, what is it when BAD things become idols?

Pick lust over Christ enough and sexual sin will wreak havoc in your life! It will run rampant.
Choose alcohol over the Lord enough and sooner than later you find yourself an alcoholic, wondering how you got to this place! Pick the love of money over Him and you will find yourself never satisfied always chasing after the next dollar that with itself will ONLY bring frustration! Pick your job and will always be hungry for status not for knowing Your worth in Him!

What's scary is many of our idols are not things we would think of. . . maybe it's love of a particular sport, movies, music or social media. These things are NOT BAD, but if you give it lordship over your life, they become bad! There are many who exalt people, who have been given exceptional gifts and talents, onto unrealistic pedestals . . . thrones they were never meant to sit on.

There is nothing wrong with being a 'fan' of a favorite athlete, singer or star, but why look to a 'star' when you can look to THE Star . . . the very Creator of the person you look up to! How foolish we ARE! Our adversary is SO slick, he takes good things and turns them into bad things . . . then will just as craftily take bad things and WRECK our lives with them! Through idols he will destroy our intimacy with Christ and leave us so discontent we won't know which way is up.

I'm NOT Casting Stones, but Give Him the Glory!

I have had, and still have, idols in my life. While it may be difficult, in our frail humanity, to completely eliminate them . . . the key is being able to address them and through HIS strength giving Him His seat back!

Our God is a jealous God-- not in a stalker, hiding in your bushes, sort of way . . . but He wants YOU. Your gifts, talents, heart and very life. He wants your attention, your time and your affection. And I think a GREAT adage to keep in mind is this-- Just as quickly as He has given you ALL of it, He can allow any one thing or ALL of it to be taken, so that He gets His seat back! The Lord does not take things away from us because He is a spoiled brat or because He desires to punish us . . . He does it because He LOVES us so much that He knows NOTHING can fill us like Him.

Walk with gratitude, quit walking in judgment, love one another, share His joy and hope with them. Stop acting like you have amnesia . . . We deserved, and still do deserve, death and yet He gave life-- let that be our latest memory and let us extend grace and forgiveness to others instead of the condemnation we so eagerly tend to extend.

Christians often times condemn others for the very thing God delivered them from! Talk about a bad memory! We must cut out this deadly case of amnesia!!

Hear that? That's God knocking on the door of your heart. Feel that? That's Him tapping you on your shoulder. He wants His seat back.

'I am the Lord; that is my name! I will NOT give MY glory to another or my praise to idols!' (Isaiah 42:8).