Everyone is this world has a god

 And as soon as I have gone from you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you I know not where. And so, when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, although I your servant have feared the Lord from my youth. 1 Kings 18:12 ESV

 A better understanding of that principle will help you understand the people to whom you minister. 

For example, you attend church for the purpose of worshipping your God. The neighbors see you walk out of your house, nicely dressed, carrying a Bible, and they say, “He is going to church to worship his god today.” The neighbors, though, stay home and read the newspaper or watch the television or go fishing and none of them ever realize that we can say the very same thing about them that they are saying about us.

 We would not say about them, “They’re going to church to worship their god today.” We would instead say, “They’re staying home to worship their god today…or they are staying home because their god says it is okay to stay home today…or they’re going fishing because they idolize fishing above our God.” Yes, whatever they exalt above our God is their god.

 In their own way, your neighbors (who stayed home) are just as religious as you because, deep down in their soul, everyone in this world has a god. Their religion may not be the same as yours; that is why they are not in church, but they are just as religious as you in their own way. If I go to deepest Africa I find that even the most depraved savages have a god! They worship idols like they did back in Bible times. If I go to Alcoholics Anonymous I find that they, too, have a god. He is a vaguely Anonymous god, but he is a god (the definition of god is left to the individual) to whom everyone in AA can pray, can depend upon to overcome their alcoholism.

 Every person has a religion and that religion is built around one’s personal concept of a god. What is the god of most Americans? It is the god of materialism. The currency may say, “In God we trust” but the truth is, “In money we trust” or “in pleasure we trust” or “in property we trust.” The Apostle Paul rightly declares that man seeks to fashion a god according to his own likes or requirements (Romans 1:18-32) but discard any god that does not meet those requirements.

 How fascinating! The rich man in Luke 12 worshipped hiself (“Look at what I have done.”) We describe him as a practical atheist, because he had no room for God…just for himself. In his eyes, he needed only himself. But he was wrong.

 You and I are like Elijah in a world of Baal worshippers. We are a minority trying to point the majority in the right direction. Your life as well as your church is crying, “If the Lord Jehovah be God, follow Him!”

 Ah, make the message clear, plain, consistent, prayer lifted, and Holy Spirit filled! Our God will use you to draw all to Him. May people experience the real God through you!

Tom Swartzwelder

Sep 4, 2024 – On September 3, 2024, Tom Swartzwelder completed the race that God had set before him. He is now with Jesus, the author and finisher of his faith.’

 Hebrews 12:1-2A

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 He provides practical how-to-do-ministry resources for the disciples of Jesus Christ at http://www.godsgreenhouse.net. Tom’s latest book is “God Speaks–Today!”

Image by DeepAI