Humans make horrible idols.

Humans are fickle and make horrible idols.

This is probably not the warm, fuzzy Christmas message that people like to hear during this season. But after talking with a wise friend over the phone yesterday, I can’t shake what she said.

“When we let someone have so much power over us to the point that we worry about what they think or become insecure in our words and actions when we are around them — we have positioned them as an idol in our lives. No one, but God, deserves that kind of power!”

I know I can’t be alone here when I say, I know what it’s like to live this way. When a person becomes an idol in your life — anything they do, good or bad, has a drastic effect on you. This is dangerous because, ultimately, humans will always disappoint.

We simply weren’t created to be worshiped.

Even the “great heroes” in The Bible were very flawed and fickle individuals. Perhaps that’s why we can identify so easily with them:

We are Adam and Eve thinking we know better than God.

We are Noah walking in faith one day and drunk and naked the next.

We are Job asking God why He’s taken so much away from us.

We are David in a constant struggle between seeking after God’s heart and our own sinful desires.

We are Jonah running from God in disobedience.

We are John the Baptist with radical faith and still crippled by doubt.

We are Peter walking on water one day and denying Jesus the next.

And these are just a few examples.

Reading through the characters in the Bible makes me wonder why anyone in church ever acts like they have it together! We are all a broken mess in need of the redemptive saving of Jesus Christ. This is the best time of year to refocus our hearts and minds on what this life is all about. The why began in the Garden and the how began in a manger.

May we bow at the manger in worship to the only One truly worthy.