God is greater than all

There are a lot of great things out there. There are great people, great places, great foods, great cars…the list goes on and on. But most of the time, people are not great in and of themselves. They are given worth. For example, there are certain products that are ignored until someone famous begins to endorse them. Then everyone thinks they are great. Escalades were big and ugly until some rappers started pimping them out. Now they are cool. Trucker hats were worn only by, well, truckers, until a few Hollywood folks started wearing them. Now they are all over the place. The point is, great is relative. What is great one weak is lame the next. And so it is tough to figure out what to follow and believe is worthwhile.

Let me share 2 Scriptures with you:
“I know that the Lord is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods.” Psalm 135:5
“But I tell you, in this you are not right, for God is greater than man.” Job 33:12

We don’t have a problem with worshipping other gods do we? We don’t sacrifice things to them or bow down to idols. Most of the time, when we think of worship we thinking of singing to God or going to church. But there is more to worship than just that. People may not bow down to idols of gold or silver, but we still worship things. Jesus says where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. In other words, the things in life that are your priorities, the things you put stock in, the things you focus the majority of your life on, those are your gods. Those are your idols. An idol, quite frankly is anything you put in front of God. The number of idols in this world are countless. We always jump to the obvious ones—money and wealth, power and prestige. But it is not just money hungry, recognition seeking people that put their idols in front of God. We put less obvious things in front of God. We put laziness, busyness, and selfishness

Laziness—we don’t want to put the effort into really getting to know God. It is just easier to drift by and float along. Soon, we start skipping Bible reading and praying. And then church altogether goes by the wayside. I see it in families all the time. Laziness leads to absence an absence of God.

Or perhaps it is busyness. School, sports, work, relationships, and other activities become the focal point of our lives, and God is given maybe an hour on Sunday. After all, we don’t have any other time to give him. Our priorities just don’t leave time for God. Busyness leads to an absence of God.

Or maybe its selfishness. The more we care about making sure our lives are good, the less we care about what God thinks about that. When we care more about living to please us than living to please our Creator, God takes a back seat. Selfishness leads to an absence of God.

But all those things that we put in front of God are just worthless idols. They are not better than little figurines of gold. God is greater than all gods, all idols, all men, all things. God is greater than all. Nothing in this world can ever be as good or worthwhile as your relationship with God and with God’s people. Period. No amount of money, cars, prestige, pleasure or anything else can compare with God’s greatness. But you will never know that unless you experience God. And you will never believe it until you attribute to God the greatness he deserves.

The question I want you to leave with is this: “What are you going to spend your life and energy serving?”

If God isn’t at the top of the list, you are missing out. You are serving an empty idol. You are following something that will let you down. God is greater than all things. He and He alone deserves your time, effort, energy, love, and above all, your worship.