What's Your Marshmallow?

This past weekend I got to spend some time with good friends in Baltimore while they were at the Radiate Conference. The night that I was there, I got to listen to some great worship and a speaker who shared some good points about the idols in your life.

Idols. You know, those lovely things you make more important than God. Those things that are holding you back from experiencing the life you were made to live. Those things that make your flesh crawl with "I WANT" cooties. Idols. Yuck.

We all have those certain things, or weaknesses you might say, that we have a really hard time of saying "no" to. Things that we've allowed to slither menacingly into our everyday lives and hold our conscious hostage. We know it's wrong. We know we shouldn't do it. In the back of our minds that "smart voice" is screaming, "Step away from the computer. T.V. food. friends. relationships. etc. etc. etc."

We have the capability to step away. Let it go. Do the right thing. Why don't we do it? Why do we have these idols that our lives are obsessed with to the point of enslavement? It's wrong. So wrong.

Our idols come in every shape and size. They don't have to be materialistic things, but in many ways, can appear in the form of emotion and desire. As girls, this really stinks. You know, since emotional is like our middle name. Times a million.

To be wanted. Noticed. Given attention. Praised. All of these things are idols that we often make priorities. We let our heart take control instead of stopping in our tracks and thinking ahead to the consequences that await us. Idols seem innocent, fun, and cool at first. So innocent in fact, that sometimes we immediately let down our "smart guard" and ignore the stop signs surrounding it. By the time we are completely hooked on this idol, that small voice in the back of our minds has disappeared because it has been droned out by our own lies. We tell ourselves that what we are doing is OK.  We make these idols respectable in our own eyes. The funny thing is, most idols have nothing good about them whatsoever...we just screw with our vision until we convince ourselves that they do.

Once we finally realize "um, this really isn't what I wanted and I really really want to get out", we're so trapped in the mess we have made that it's often a long, painful process to clean it up.

The speaker on Saturday night shared this video during the seminar. You may have seen it before, since it is absolutely hilarious, but as you watch it, look at it from different eyes. Like that marshmallow is your idol. That thing you want SO BAD. 



So, now I ask you - what is your marshmallow? What is that thing you find yourself running to to fill you up instead of running to Jesus? What is it that is holding you hostage? Or what is the marshmallow you are staring at from a distance. touching. licking. tasting. but not fully eating yet?

Like with the lady in the video who promised another marshmallow if the kids waited, God has something so much better for you than what the idols in your life have to offer. We're so impatient and our flesh is so weak. Our idols know this. They always seem to come out just at the "wrong" time - when we're really tired of waiting and really want some satisfaction right now. Those idols suddenly appear saying "Come on...I've got it all for you. Don't wait. Enjoy now."

The question is, are we going to give in or are we going to remember the promise of something better?

An idols main purpose is to take your focus off of God and allow you to become the source of your own destruction.

Idols want you to fall. Don't give them the opportunity.