Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down in front of me.  Then the word of the Lord came to me:  “Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and have put sinful stumbling blocks before their faces.  should I be consulted by them all?

“Therefore speak to them and tell them:  This is what the Lord God says:  When anyone from the house of Israel sets up idols in his heart, puts a sinful stumbling block before his face, and then comes to the prophet, I, Yahweh, will answer him appropriately.  I will answer him according to his many idols, so that I may take hold of the house of Israel by their hearts.  They are all estranged from Me because of their idols.

“Therefore, say to the house of Israel:  This is what the Lord God says:  Repent and turn away from your idols; turn your faces away from all your detestable things.  Ezekiel 14:1-6  HCSB

I awoke this morning with a song in my head, as I usually do.  This song was “Our God is an Awesome God”.  We sang this song in church Sunday and it is stuck in my head today.  Anyway this lead me to a thought that I would like to share with you.  If my God is so awesome, and He truly is, then why do I continue to have idols and sinful stumbling blocks?  Hmm, something to ponder this morning.  If you have a chance to read Romans 14, it talks about how some believe that it is okay to eat certain foods while others do not.  Last night I had the opportunity to spend time with a couple of close friends and one was raised Catholic while two of us were raised Baptist.  I spent 20 years in the Methodist church.  Now my Catholic friends and Methodist friends believe that it is perfectly okay to drink.  My Baptist friends, at least some of them, believe that it is not.  Romans chapter 14 talks of the Law of Liberty.  Now if you consider what the Bible has to say, there are a number of verses that say that we are not to drink.  There are a number of verses that say that we are not to get drunk.  We are strongly cautioned against doing anything that causes us to not be sober-minded. If you go to openbible.info and go to their topical search about what the Bible says about drinking, you can see the numerous verses on this topic. 1 Peter 4:7 tells us that the end of all things is near and that we should be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.  I always try to think about what I am doing and think what if Jesus came back right now? What if I died at this very moment?  How would I answer for this at the great throne of judgement?  I try to consider these two questions.

Now ten years ago, I used to enjoy a drink with dinner a couple times a week.  I saw nothing wrong with this.  I did not see it as a sinful stumbling block.  However,  I had devoted myself to church and had a preacher that I respected a great deal telling me that I shouldn’t drink.  Well, I was suffering with migraines at the time and realized that among other triggers, alcohol was a major one for my migraines.  God helped me to give it up with no problem.

Giving up alcohol was easy because it wasn’t worth the migraine.  I realized this morning, however, that I have turned to another idol, food.  Yep, I said it.  Food has become my idol.  They say confession is good for the soul, so here I go.  I have always struggled with my weight and part of that reason is because I love to eat.  My favorite foods are those that are fried or rich and chocolatey.  Yum!  You know, the kinds that are bad for you.

This morning God made it pretty clear to me that I can’t go around talking about how He can conquer any problem we have when I can’t let Him help me conquer my food addiction.  Yep, I said it, my food addiction.  I have done weight watchers in the past with great results.  The thing I love about that program is that everything is permissible but It teaches you to control your portions.  Proverbs 25:27 tells us that it’s not good to eat too much honey because too much may cause you to vomit.  Ephesians 5:18 tells us that we should not get drunk with wine because that leads to debauchery.  1 Corinthians 6:12 tells us that all things are permissible but not all things are good for us and that we should not be enslaved by anything.

So this morning, I ask you to consider if you are enslaved by anything.  Is there anything that presents a sinful stumbling block for you?  Is there anything that stands like an idol in between you and God?  Is there a habit that you need to break?  If so, I encourage you to kneel with me this morning and ask God to remove that from your life.  God will help you and will hold you up when you feel as though you may fall.

Don’t let an idol or a sinful stumbling block stand between you and God.  All you have to do is ask Him to remove it and draw closer to you (James 4:8)   He will be glad to do just that.

Have a great day!