God v. "gods"

Acts 14:1-18
John 10:31-42
The irony that arises between these two passages is that while Jesus is challenged over his comments concerning the Son of God, the crowds in Lystra are all too eager to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas believing them to be gods come to earth. In John, Jesus lays claim to his identity. In Acts, Paul and Barnabas are barely able to restrain the crowds from committing idolatry.

The point here may be that God is forever having to correct human perspective, having to refocus our attention from what we want or hope or believe to be true to what is in fact truthful. Jesus is not committing blasphemy as is alleged, and he is able to point to scripture and his God-empowered work to demonstrate who he is. Likewise, Paul and Barnabas are not claiming to be gods, they are simply doing the work of God in the name of Jesus Christ. In each case the audience is in danger of missing the point.

Of course we know who Jesus is, and we know that Paul and Barnabas are not gods. But before we become too confident in our righteousness we should remember the many other examples of poor perspective and lost focus that creep into our lives. Prejudice often springs from the belief that one social class or race or nationality is greater than another. Laws or practices based on such ideas may lead us away from God’s will instead of leading us toward it. Nor is idolatry limited to worshiping statues of gold or silver. Anything that we allow to stand between ourselves and our relationship with God is an idol, and there are any number of such things in our lives. Our view of natural resources may be guided by the assumption that the world is ours to use as we please while in fact “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1). How easily our vision can become poorly focused!

The good news is that God continues to work in the lives of men and women and within communities and congregations to refocus and reprioritize our living. The call to discipleship might be understood as a call for a spiritual eye exam with the word of God and the life of God’s people as the corrective lenses. There are still ample opportunities for us to see clearly and to live justly. But we’ll have to set our sights on the one God and not “the gods” who can seem so attractive.

Prayer: Lord, help us to live according to your will and not our own. And help us to see things according to your word and not according to the world. Amen.