Guyzone: Could your guitar save your life?
3rd February 2010 by Kevin Thow
What things if you lost them or if they failed you (friends, family, popularity, technology, wealth, girlfriend etc.) would make you not want to live - would make you want to crawl up into a ball and shut yourself away from the rest of the world?
A sweeping theme throughout the Bible is the theme of idolatry - making anything more important than God.
I shared this with several guys in my youth and one of them scoffed, arguing that in today's society no-one bowed down to objects of stone and wood like Old Testament Baal worshippers.
This young man - who was quite a proficient guitarist - then proceeded to bow down to ‘worship' his Gibson Les Paul to get a laugh out of his friends. The irony was that what he was doing externally as a joke was occurring internally, within his heart.
The music and the maker
"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also," (Matthew 6:21).
Jesus is saying that what we treasure and deeply desire more than anything in this world will be at the centre of our heart. Ultimately, this will either be the Creator (God himself and his Kingdom), or created things.
Let's examine my friend:
- He loved heavy metal music.
- Every t-shirt he wore was a statement to the world that he was part of a tribe of people who adored heavy metal.
- Every spare moment he had was dedicated to playing music.
Consequently, he had built his very identity upon what he treasured the most.
Can your guitar save your life?
Yes some people find music great to help deal with stress and all that, but could your guitar actually give you supernatural wisdom to overcome a difficult situation? Could your guitar rescue you from hell and guarantee you a place in heaven?
We might receive temporary satisfaction, but the reality is this: when the real issues of life come our way, idols cannot save us.
Tim Keller, a pastor from New York, defines idolatry as turning good things into ultimate things.
The things of this world very quickly become idols in our lives when we have an over-excessive desire for things that aren't necessarily ‘bad' - but things that are good.
The greatest treasure
Jesus likens the Kingdom of God to a treasure worth far more than all our earthly treasures combined in Matthew 13:44: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field."
Dwell on this for a moment.
In his joy, the man who found the Kingdom of Heaven sold all he had because he knew how much more valuable it was compared to all the other things in his life. He sold everything because he had the greatest treasure of all - a new way of life in relationship with God!
Are you building your identity on created things? Or, have you found satisfaction in all that the Kingdom of God and its King have to offer?
By Kevin Thow
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Comments
true words kev
addictions aren't all about smoking weed or getting smashed but also things like a guitar obsession, or the uncontrollable need to be liked, or playing Modern Warfare 2 till 3am every morning.
Good article Kevin!
Also, a guitar CAN save your life...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcxaXJV8HvU