Idols

I have been reading from the beginning of the Bible since I arrived in Bulgaria 8 months ago and I am in Isaiah now.  After reading through the Old Testament and how they would turn to idols and other gods so easily, I began to pray about the word "idol" and make it relevant to me.  I wanted to understand in my easy 3rd grade teacher mind, how this word would apply to my life.  I prayed and asked God to reveal this to me.
The other day as we were driving through the Thracian valley in the middle of Bulgaria in the most furtile parts of the country, I was talking and the answer just came out of my mouth.  I was talking about how we as humans put value on things.  Earthly things only are valuable in regards to how much value we place on it.  If we pay alot for something, we deem it valuable.  If it is a family heirloom, we may value it.  This is why we love to watch shows like "Antique Roadshow", because we see value in things we may not have valued before.
We, as humans, have this power of value that we can place onto things and also onto other people (or lack of value, however).
It causes me to think about the things and people that I value in my life.  As far as people go, of course, my faith, my family (my husband and our four AMAZING kids) and friends are the most valuable to me.  People I would die for...
As far as things/possessions, well, I've already let go of most things I valued already (like the Keiurig coffee maker and the Dyson vacuum cleaner).  You might say my laptop or some other thing of monetary value might rank at the top, but  I really would say my Bible.  I know, how cliche, a missionary loves her Bible....but I really do.  It is the most valuable thing to me...I really like it.  I lost it (or left it at the mission house we were staying at in the hussle and bussle of moving) and had to begin in a new Bible.  I like it ok, but the team brought mine back to me last week.  I liked the Dukes and the hot sauce, even the M & Ms, and the beef jerky they brought to us, but my Bible was back home with me.
Anyway, back to idols and the value we put on things.
This was just my assessment of the things I value.  We should all ask ourselves, what we value most...
I believe an idol becomes anything that we OVERvalue.  The idols of the Old Testament were old skulls put on a mantle and worshipped.  Graven images that became as gods.  They took ordinary things and overvalued them.  Made them worth more than they really were.
What have you overvalued?  If everyone else says, that's not really worth much, but in your eyes it's worth more than money could buy, has it become an idol to you?
Can you not sell your house because you have overvalued it?  Can you not let go of something because it is worth too much to you?  Has it then become an idol?  This, for me, is now my "idol test".  Have I OVERvalued an object, a person, or even a tradition?

"We are as grasshoppers"

During my devotion this morning, I heard something that was quite profound.  Go with me here as I lead with a personal example and bring it all back together.
Many times in my life the Holy Spirit has given me wisdom and helped me in the raising of my children (praise the Lord).  I would not always know the exact place in the Bible where to back up this wisdom, but many times through my studying the Word, would come across things in the Word that confirmed what the Holy Spirit had taught me in my cry as a mother for wisdom in raising my kids.
They are 16, 15, 14, and 8 right now.  In elementary school and especially middle school, children need to be firm in who they are, but at this age it is tested and retested.  Peer pressure and name calling is rampant throughout these ages.  My children would come home at a young age and say, "..... called me this" or "....said I was....".  I would always tell them, "Are you this?  Is this who YOU say you are?  Is this true to be what you know about yourself?  Is this true about what God says about you?"  The answer would always be, "No."  Then I would say, "Then what does it matter?  Why should it move you?  The only truth that matters is what God thinks of us and what we think of ourselves.  People will always try to get you to change those two things, but if you are firm in who you are, you will never be moved."
So this morning I heard a word confirmation on this advice.  We know the story in the Bible of the spies that are sent out to check out the land and they come back with the report that there are giants in the land.  The next statement is what stood out the most to me..."and we are as grasshoppers in their eyes."  They did not ask the giants what they thought of them.  This was their image of THEMSELVES.  This image of themselves was not the image God had of them.  This wrong image of themselves kept them from entering the promised land.  The image they had of themselves.
As I tie this all together, we as parents try to ground our children and have them rooted strongly in confidence and in knowing who they are and not to be moved by outward circumstances.
It makes me question us even as adults, "Who do you say you are?  What is it you believe about yourself?  Is this true about what God says about you?"
In this world there will always be prejudices, racism, and even in small clusters like a middle school you will have those usurping and ranking themselves.  It even goes back to the message we have here in Bulgaria as we are teaching the Roma.   The question still goes back to "what image do you have of yourself"?  How do you see yourself?  Will you believe what others say you are?  Will you be put in the category others put you in?  Will you rise and be who you are and who God says you are?
His Beloved, bought with a price, valuable, and created for His purpose in such a time as this!