November 24, 2019: Loved & Capable of Loving - Amanda Lum

“Keep yourself from idols.” What a curious way to end a letter like this. Unless we recognize the idea of what idols represented. Idols and idolatry was about more than bowing down before statues of a the gods. It was about the human propensity to place anything in the created order above the one who created it. When we do this, we give away our power to the created order.

 

This, according to NT Wright, was what the idea of “sin” meant. It was humanity’s missing the mark by handing over to lifeless things the power and authority that was ours in the first place. This is what has led to slavery for us and for all of the created order. In this, we fail in our most basic calling – the invitation to co-create with God and be his presence in this word. To keep away from idols then, is negative way of stating the invitation that has been ours from the beginning: to accept and live out our deepest calling.