July 8

There are 2 great things in this passage for me. First, people who follow worthless things become worthless. Wow! That is a little heavy, but true. When I let worthless things into my life, I become worthless. Now I don’t mean that I have no worth, my worth is found in Christ, but my life takes on a character of that worthless thing or pursuit. There is a worthlessness that will come to part of my life, and if I am not careful, it will begin to take over the productiveness of other areas.

The other thing was that the Assyrians who settled in Samaria worshipped God, (because lions kept eating them) but they also worshipped other gods. Do I do that? I certainly don’t bow down to some idol made by hands, but I see that it is very possible to place things/people/ministry in primary importance in my life. More than that, when we worship both God and other gods, we nearly nullify if not completely nullify the benefit of worshipping the only true God! When I am conflicted and worship, as Jesus put it, God and mammon (money-materials-things), I have to make a choice. God won’t be second fiddle and the blessings of relationship with God come out of that primary relationship – He must remain #1!