More thoughts on heeding yourself

Deuteronomy 11:16 -- this has 4 components that I would like to comment on separately.

A. "Beware that your hearts are not deceived and that you...
B. "...do not turn away
C. "...and serve other Gods
D. "... and worship them"

A. The introduction of deception is interesting. Once a person is deceived they can fall victim to anyone or anything. I must give heed to myself every day to avoid deception.

B. Idol worship begins when we turn from God. Another way to say it: We can not worship idols without first ceasing to worship and serve God. Another way to say it: If we are worshiping an idol we can not also be right with God. This is very sobering. Is there anything in my life, other than God, that I am worshiping?

C. We don't usually think of people "serving" other gods. Too often we dismiss it as either ignorant or stubborn, but certainly futile. However, if there is nothing to idol worship, how can you "serve other gods?" How do you serve something that doesn't exist?
Also, it seems here that actions of service are a key way of determining who or what a person truly reveres as God.

D. The progression:
1. heart deceived while poorly guarded
2. hearts turns from God, now totally vulnerable
3. actions and behaviors and allegiances follow

What is the difference between "serve" and "worship?" I think "serve" might be the sacrifice of time/energy/resources, while "worship" is the offering/bestowing of honor.

Encouragement

I was able to talk to a friend on Wednesday. He was very encouraging, and his stories also reminded me that I need to be more serious about my prayer time and maintaining my spiritual health. Hair-raising stories about spiritual conflict tend to have that effect.

This morning I engaged in one of my more peculiar hobbies: creating analogies. For some reason I randomly remembered a speaker from NCU chapel telling us that a husband is like the bow of a ship. When an icy storm hurls itself at the family ship, he takes the beating and clears the path. After thinking about it for a while, I decided that the wife is the sail. She is the one who propels the husband and the rest of the family.
Now here is the cool thing. God is the sailor. He controls the husband with the rudder and the wife with the sheets (ropes that control the sail). In order for the ship to sail correctly, both husband and wife need to be obedient to God. If the husband refuses to let God steer him with the tiller, the ship will wander listlessly about the ocean. In large waves, it will almost certainly capsize. How many kids do you know who seem to have been raised on a directionless boat? If the wife refuses to let God hold her taught in the wind, the ship won't go anywhere. In a low wind she will settle into the position of least stress and sit there, doing no good to anyone. In a high wind She will flutter and flail, making a horrendous amount of noise and swinging wildly back and forth across the deck- a serious safety hazard- and no progress will come out of any of it. Without any forward movement the tiller does minimal good, and once again the ship is in serious danger of capsizing.
I should probably end the analogy there, but I thought I would throw kids into the mix. The kids make up the hull (other than the bow). They might feel like they are just along for the ride, but they have a huge amount of impact on how the ship sails. If one of them becomes damaged, the ship leaks. The bilge pumps from one end of the ship to the other need to go day and night to make up for it, and the hull defect will slow the ship down. If the child declines too far, they could drag the whole ship to the bottom. Furthermore, this is a type of ship where bilgeboards run the full length of the hull. If a bilgeboard is not down at the right time, the ship will be blown sideways by the wind and not be able to hold it's course. If it is not pulled up at the right time it will create extra drag and slow down the ship. Worse, in shallow water, the bilgeboard could get damaged or the ship could get hung up. Each child needs to allow God to constantly adjust the bilgeboard on their portion of the ship. If they don't, or if they twist their bilgeboard into a shape that God never intended, they will seriously hamper the progress of the ship.

Deuteronomy 10:20

I love this verse. It talks about fearing God. So many people have problems with the idea of fearing God. Some of them wonder why they should be afraid of a loving God, and they water the term down until it means nothing more than a vague respect. Others are in the camp that portrays a short-tempered God who unleashes wrath upon anyone who gets on His bad side. This verse gives a much broader view.
"You shall fear the Lord your God"-- what does this mean?-- "Serve Him" --actively acknowledge Him as Master. This means that we do His will, not our own. Why? Because He is our legitimate King and Master. He has unlimited rights over us. -- "Cling to Him" -- The first piece challenged the camp who waters down the fear of God. This part challenges those who take a more fire-and-brimstone approach. A proper fear of God does not repel us from Him in terror. Rather, it forces us to acknowledge that even if God is not "safe," our only proper place, the only place where we will ever become everything we were meant to be, is in His arms. I believe C.S. Lewis portrayed this concept well when he chose to make Aslan (a figure representing Jesus) a lion. He was terrifying, but to those who knew Him he was their closest friend. To quote Mr. Beaver, "Of course he isn't safe! But he's good. He's the King, I tell you." The other aspect to this is that a proper fear of God acknowledges Him as the supreme authority over all of the other things in the world of which we are often afraid. Poverty, child abusers, terrorists, cancer, creepy demonic things- they are all subject to God. The one thing more terrifying than the boogey man is the one who makes the boogey man run in terror. But if it turns out that this terrifying being also loves you, then it makes sense to come to his side, however terrifying the experience might be at times, because you know that it will free you from the boogey man -- "Swear by His name" -- Swearing by a name indicates that you will voluntarily make yourself accountable to that entity for your fulfillment of the vow and you believe that this entity has the highest possible authority, ability, and motivation to hold you accountable. If the receiving party has reason to doubt any of those three qualifications (authority, ability, and motivation) then they won't accept the vow. God does not want us to bind ourselves to anyone but Him. Furthermore, it would not be logical for the other party to accept a vow to any other.