Legal Property

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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Squirrel! Made You Look. (By Lynn Squire)

Lynn posts a blog every week that I really enjoy reading. The link to it is on the right under recommended links. This lady has an abundance of wisdom and a bucketfull of love for God, too.
Enjoy! - Anne
Yes, like all who enjoyed Up, I tend to over use the squirrel! distraction far too much. But bear with me as I use it just one more time.

Have you ever thought about what is an idol?


According to Webster's 1828 Dictionary: An idol is any thing which usurps the place of God in the hearts of his rational creatures.

Hmm. Interesting. What usurps the place of God in my heart? Kind of a distraction like a squirrel is to a dog who should be minding his master.

A Hebrew word translated as "idol" is miphletseth and it means horrid thing, or horrible thing. This word was used for the object that the mother of Asa made in a grove.

Did you know that the worshipers of idols are said to be under Satan's control?

To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Acts 26:18
What idols of today keep people in darkness?

The other night my husband watched Megamind with our kids. I was gone for the evening, but later I asked him what he thought of the movie. He turned a little green around the gills and said that he wouldn't let the kids watch it again. Why? Because of the music, "Highway to Hell" and "Back in Black." Perhaps for some people these songs would have no ill-effect but, for my husband, it left a very bad taste in his mouth. These songs, to him, represented a style of music and lyrics that calls people away from God into a very dark world and holds them there.

Since I did not listen to this type of music in my youth, I probably wouldn't have recognized what the songs represented. Likely, it wouldn't have drawn me to "the dark side." But for some people such music provides another venue for Satan to control them.

What does draw me? Busyness and food. I like to be busy, and my endless dreaming up of new things to do sometimes pull me away from trusting God to lead me. I'm like the dog who sees the squirrel and chases after it. Food also tempts me as I am continually in search of a new tasty recipe, and if I give in sometimes I get very sick.

There are probably many other things that I am tempted to allow to usurp God in my life. I recognize how easy it is for me to be deceived into believing I am worshiping God, or at least not dishonoring Him, when some minute distraction pulls me away from following Him--things that are my Squirrel!

2 comments:

Lynn Dean said...

Very fitting! I love the squirrel analogy. It's so easy to think of an idol as a stone statue and assume that I don't fall into that category. But distractions? They are abundant! I even think, sometimes, that the distraction of advertising can be an idol for me--leading me to fantasize about a lifestyle that is a fabrication on film, robbing me of being content with the blessings God has already provided.

Anne Baxter Campbell said...

Well said, Lynn. I agree 199%!
Anne