the Modern Idol

Today is a Sunday. And i feel like it's a good time to start a blog that will be solely dedicated to my faith and to my God. As i have said in one of my more recent entries (in Jabberwocky i mean), God has definitely laid on me the importance of reading his word consistently and daily. And as i said in that entry, i feel like one way to encourage me to do my devotions on a, hopefully, daily basis, is by writing down my thoughts about what i have read and just get out there what i'm reading about.

JUST SO YOU KNOW-i'm not trying to make a point, i'm not trying to start any arguments. If you do not believe or are getting upset with whatever i write here then you always have the option of just exiting the screen- no big deal. This is just another form of journaling but i am giving anyone who wants to the option of reading my thoughts.

I'll probably end up rambling about life as well from time to time but i suppose that's what makes it interesting. :P. And with that, i will start

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Right now i'm going through Isaiah and it's taken me a long time, mostly because i've kept my bible closed for most of last semester *oops!* BUT i'm trying to get back into the groove!
It's amazing how many ways the devil can distract you right?

Anyways- i'm going to start with Friday (cause yesterday and today didn't exactly work out...)

I read through Isaiah 43 and 44 and some parts of just blew my mind...
Isaiah 44:6-20 talks about idolatry and about how it makes absolutely no sense. When a Carpenter is making an idol, he's the one that cuts the wood and carves it and it's just a man making something that is 'holy.' God forces us to see that there is nothing special about that piece of wood. If the scraps are jut going to be used for everyday things like food and heating up a house, then what makes that other part of the wood holy?

This section i like the most:
"From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, 'Save me; you are my god.' They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand. No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, 'half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?' He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, 'Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?'"
Isaiah 44: 17-20

Usually when people of the Church talks about idolatry, they start talking about how today we kind of worship, instead of wooden or metal figures, materials like money or clothing or even other people. However, this passage made me think of something just a bit different.
In our day and age, it is popular to kind of make up your own idea what kind of God is up there, how spiritual things work out, if it's a god or multiple gods up there or if there is a god at all or if we are in fact the gods, etc. etc. but I feel like we can understand this 'customized religion' thing in the way that God explains idolatry. bare with me-

I am a human with very little control over the things in my life, let alone a spiritual realm, how can i just decide on who or what God is? a personalized religion is a conclusion that one comes up with by themselves. It is a worship of something that one creates in their own mind- what's so holy about that?

Another section of my reading i liked a lot:
"Yet you have not called upon me, o Jacob, you have not wearied yourselves for me, O Israel. You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings, nor honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with grain offerings nor wearied you with demands for incense. You have not brought any fragrant calamus for me, or lavished no me the fat of your sacrifices. but you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses."
Isaiah 43:22-24
~This one speaks a lot to me right now. I mean i haven't turned away from God by any means but i have been cruising for a while now. I haven't grown a whole bunch or prayed too often (only for stuff i need) and i havent been keeping up with my devotions lately- it's bad. And knowing what God has in store for me makes it even worse because i know i cannot help others and use my gifts for God's kingdom if i decide not to stay in his word daily. You cannot be an effective christian and decide that you are going to stay fully devoted to God when you feel like it. I have to be consistent and i need to really push myself to do so.


these next few excerpts are just scriptures i found that i liked as well:
"...Fear not, for i have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine."
Isaiah 43:1(ish)
~Somewhere in Ephesians 2-3 there is a reference to how we belong to God too so you can look that up if you like (unless i'm wrong...but that's ok because Ephesians is a good book as well :P)

"When you pas through the waters, i will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." Isaiah 43: 2

"The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise" Isaiah 43:20-21

"....I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God." Isaiah 44:6(ish)