All those who make no-god idols don't amount to a thing, and what they work so hard at making is nothing. Their little puppet gods see nothing and know nothing--they're total embarrassments! Who would bother making gods that can't do anything, that can't "god"?...The woodworker draws up plans for his no-god, traces his plans on a block of wood. He shapes it with chisels and planes into human shape--a beautiful woman, a handsome man, ready to be placed in a chapel...[the wood] can serve a double purpose: part he uses as firewood for keeping warm and baking bread; from the other part he makes a god that he worships--carves it into a god shape and prays before it. With half he makes a fire to warm himself and barbecue his supper. He eats his fill and sits back with his stomach full and his feet warmed by the fire: "Ah, this is the life." And he still has half left for a god, made to his personal design--a handy, convenient no-god to worship whenever so inclined. Whenever the need strikes him, he prays, "Save me. You're my god."
Pretty stupid, wouldn't you say? Don't they have eyes in their heads? Are their brains working at all? Doesn't it occur to them to say, "Half of this tree I used for firewood: I baked bread, roasted meat, and enjoyed a good meal. And now I've used the rest to make an abominable no-god. Here I am praying to a stick of wood!" This lover of emptiness, of nothing, is so out of touch with reality, so far gone, that he can't even look at what he is doing, can't even look at the no-god stick of wood in his hand and say, "This is crazy."We can say we do not worship no-god sticks of wood, but I fear we have created our own version inside the church.
Spiritual autism is the absence of love demonstrated to the one true God who authored creation and deserves our exclusive worship.
Do we worship no-god caricatures, even within the believer realm?
I would say yes, right in the midst of our church-life. We run the risk of worshiping our own righteousness that we have set in motion by looking spiritual, regardless of how our hearts are toward others and God.
The no-god caricature we worship is our portrayal of a good Christian, church-attentive, good deeds-attentive, morally-attentive, but with hearts who secretly set ourselves above others. Our "churchy" selves become an image we worship.
The wooden god made from the leftover wood won't detect that secret heart-life, but we can bet that the one who made us will.
So why the continued 'stupidity'? To truly love God is to allow him to show us our no-god worship, our potholes of smugness that keep us serving our churchy image of better-than-others.
We cannot love God and worship our no-god churchy self at the same time.
Lord, help me release my 'stupid' worship of churchy self over others and realize I am in desperate need of you as my Savior. Yours is the only righteousness and you are the only object of true worship in this large and confused world.
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