Greater than Gold on Earth

 August 3, 2024

Saturday

 Many people believe in magic. They think they can have the power to change the rules of the universe. They think that their actions will somehow please God so much that He will give them whatever they want. They believe they can say the right words and make the greater sacrifices that will cause God to forget what His will is. Maybe this is why Star Wars and superhero movies are so well attended. It reinforces their beliefs.

Do the people think that manipulating God makes them a god? Some do and even say so. They will claim that they are little gods. It doesn't even seem ridiculous to them. They believe that their faith causes god-like power to do their will.

But what has the true Almighty God thought of their actions? He lets them live in their delusions. They have decided that they love themselves. They have decided that they do not want to worship the God of the Bible. The Bible is nothing more than a means of learning how to have god-like power. They tip their hats to God but expect Him to serve them. Loving God is always secondary to their own narcistic love for themselves.

These people do not realize that they have set themselves up as enemies of the cross of Jesus Christ for they do not preach the sinners' need for salvation but a gospel that calls every Christian rich on this earth and shuns the sacrifice of Christ. They often call Jesus a loser for not attaining what He could have attained as they are doing.

The prosperity gospel lures many people into this magical realm of saying the right words, claiming every want and denying the true nature of the person who loves Jesus. Jesus said that love would result in obeying Him. They have decided that Jesus must obey them.

Yet, when I see those who have so very little hear of these magical incantations, I understand the lure. Those who have been stepped on see the way to rise above others. They can have more than God desires for them. They can have what they desire. (Sounds a bit like Adam and Eve.)

Knowing Christ is not to know Him as Santa Claus. It is to know Him as Lord. It is to be His willing slave. It is to hold nothing back from Him. Knowing Christ is of far more worth than all the gold in this world. That gold will perish with you. Knowing Him lasts forever.

Philippians 3:18–19 (NASB 2020) ¹⁸ For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even as I weep, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, ¹⁹ whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who have their minds on earthly things.