Our pastor, Jim Applegate, talked about 9/11 a little at church this morning. He was mostly talking about how easy it is to turn a blessing God has given us into an idol. In America, the culturally correct way of turning what God did into an idol is to turn from God to material things for security. I guess the twin towers were the picture of this kind of hope shift. Neither Jim, nor I, would minimize the tragedy of that day in human suffering. However, it does give me pause that Bin Laden struck what he considered to be the epitomy of the United States. And unfortunately, Pres. Bush added to the idol when he said that the response of the American people should be to go out and shop. Of course, that isn’t all he said, and he did stand up for us.
At any rate, it seems to me that for myself as an American to move away from the idol of material blessings, I need to return to the God Who is God. I need to talk with him, ask him what he wants in my life, follow what he’s already told me. When I am blessed, I need to thank him, but not turn to the blessing for security, identity, stability or anything else. I need to look to the needs of people around me, and meet the ones I can.
I need to be God’s kid more than I am America’s kid.