Jonah 4:1-4
But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
Jonah 2:7-9
When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you;
Jonah 2:8
Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
Those clinging to empty idols forfeit the grace that is theirs.
Idolatry blocks people from receiving grace.
Grace is the free, unmerited favor of God, working powerfully on the mind and heart to change lives.
It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. A counterfeit god is anything so central and essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living. -Tim Keller
2 Kings 17:15
They went after false idols and became false.
‘They worshipped emptiness and became empty.’ The word here is hebel meaning ‘air,’ ‘delusion,’ or ‘vanity.’ The idea is that they became like the gods they worshipped. They bowed down to nothingness and became nothing.” (Dilday)
Life only has meaning, or I only have worth if…
Our emotions can help us pinpoint idolatrous sources.
Most sin in our lives can be traced back to idolatry: trying to find our justification, identity, and worth in something other than God.
Romans 6:14
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Romans 5:11
More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
All idol clinging is us trying to achieve or earn justification, worthiness, and identity.
It’s living like we are still under the law. Come under grace!
I confess I’ve made an idol out of ____________.
“Father, I see how this thing has become an idol in my life. It is not evil in itself, but my heart has elevated it above You, and that is what makes it wrong. I refuse to be controlled by it any longer. Lord, You alone justify me—this idol does not. Help me find my identity and self-worth in you alone. Overwhelm my heart with Your grace so no lesser love can control me! I am under grace. Amen.”
THE BLOOD OF JESUS CLEANSES YOU.