Who's your god?

I dropped a rather interesting statement - perhaps even controversial - in my first post (which I think you should read to find out what this blog's about):

"... everyone's already brainwashed by something, and everyone already serves a 'god' of some type - either spiritual or material, and whether or not they realize it or like to admit it (sex, money, job/career, education, gambling, shopping, drugs, etc.)."

If you're a non-believer, you might think this is completely ridiculous. You might be thinking something like, 'I'm in control of my own life. Nothing controls me, and I'm in charge of my own destiny.' But the fact is, we're all controlled by something - "brainwashed" - no matter how independent or strong we think we are.

For example, if you spend countless hours climbing the corporate ladder or building your business at the expense of time with family and friends, you might think you're totally in control of the situation. However, the reality is that you serve - dare I say "worship"? - your career or business. The drive to succeed actually controls you. Various life experiences and influences have you convinced, and you are likely trying to convince others around you, that this is the right thing to do. Therefore, you are brainwashed whether or not you realize it or like to admit it. In essence, you've made this relentless pursuit your "god".

I can only imagine a believer reading this post and self-righteously thinking that you're glad you're not like that non-believer trapped in the pursuit of "false gods". But is the God you claim to believe in and to serve and worship truly your god?

In this day and age, there are far too many believers who say one thing then do the other regarding their belief in God; these are the "hypocrites" that continue to give God the bad name to non-believers that He in no way deserves. They show up at church and put on their "Sunday best", appearing and acting as though they're a spiritual pillar, but become a totally different person outside of church for the other six days of the week. They don't stand out in any way spiritually from the world around them.

People like this may claim that God is the one and only thing they serve, but they might actually be caught up in materialistic thinking ('Our _____ isn't big/new/cool enough any more. We really need a bigger/newer/more cool _____.'). Or they may be trying to get a bigger piece of the pie at work or in their business through deceitful practices. In reality, their god is not the God they claim to believe in but rather materialism or greed. Fortunately, God is quick to forgive and heal believers who sincerely come to Him with regret about putting other gods before Him.

I know who my god is: I believe in the God of the Bible. Now before I continue, I just want to clarify that I'm not trying to be "preachy" here. I'm simply laying my cards on the table and explaining exactly who my God is so there can be no confusion on the issue, so you can know where I stand for real. You don't have to agree with it, but I'm just asking you to bear with it! (Remember about being truly open-minded, as I discussed in my first post?)

Specifically, I don't just believe He exists, but I've voluntarily placed my life into His hands. The Bible instructs me that the only way to do this is by placing my faith in Jesus, who the Bible says is the only mediator ("the Way") between God and mankind (yes, this word is politically incorrect, but isn't the word "man" still part of the word "woman"?). This may sound like a strange thing to do, but Jesus made it clear that He and His Father (i.e. God) are one in nature - Jesus is the "Son of God" - so by placing my faith in Jesus I've automatically placed my faith in God. This is what getting "saved" is all about. But salvation is the topic of a whole other post!

So why would I do such a thing? Why would I place my life into the hands of God/Jesus? Where's my backbone? Why would I want a "crutch" like some god in my life?

I can assure you that if I didn't have God as my "crutch", if I wasn't "brainwashed" into believing in the God of the Bible, then I would have something else as my crutch. And this is the whole point of this post. We're all brainwashed by something, and whatever we're brainwashed by becomes our 'god'. For example, while I was giving God the stiff-arm in my life, I was brainwashed to believe that education, making lots of money, and acquiring a lot of possessions were the keys to success and happiness in life. So therefore my gods during that time were education, money, and materialism.

So once again, who's your god? Hopefully now you realize that we all serve one whether we believe in God or not.

But I guess the more important questions are: What will be the end result of believing in your god, and will it be there for you after you die physically and enter the realm of eternity? Perhaps these will be other post topics.