Resisting Idols: Pleases God. So what is the answer God wants from us? Look back at 2 Peter 3:10-11. God said we keep our lives from suffering loss, from having the legacy of our life destroyed:
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• By living for what lasts v. 10 or what do we have that won’t burn!
• By living for what pleases Him v. 11 so we won’t be ashamed when He shows up unexpectedly!
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What exactly is Peter talking about that displeases God? Years after Peter, we find in 1 John that the last living Apostle uses the same word Peter was instructed to use. It does not please God for us to crave and sacrifice for what He is telling us to abandon. Look at 1 John 2:15-17:
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Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—
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• the lust of the flesh: (the craving of the body chasing pleasures);
• the lust of the eyes: (the lusting of the eyes chasing stuff)
• the pride of life: (the boasting of the mouth chasing status)
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—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
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Just like Lot’s wife, when we long for what God has already said He is going to destroy, we displease Him. One of the last words to the church from the Apostles are John’s words that end his epistle. He said to believers: keep yourselves from idols (1 John 5:21).
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Should we spend our lives collecting and guarding, seeking out and holding onto trash that will only be taken away from us by God and burned (1 Cor. 3:13-15)? That is idolatry.
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Or should we spend our lives laying up eternal treasures that will stay with us forever, and that we can give as endless offerings of worship to God (Mat. 6:19-21)?