I made this god once, and I called him Work. He was strong and frightening and made a lot of demands. As often as I served him, I had money to spend and food on my table. He brought me a sense of purpose, too, and a community of people who forced themselves to work together.
There were some other parts of my life that suffered when I was obeying Work. I hardly slept. Many times I ignored my family. But Work kept telling me he would give me what I needed. And the things that lacked seemed like things I could look for later in life. Rest, peace, family time.
When I was 30, I was serving Work more than ever. I was offering him even more than he asked for. Then I got sick, and Work could not fix what I was suffering. The more I worked, the more the sickness grew. This god of mine was harming me instead of helping me. And he did not have a greater plan that justified his actions. I was alone with my weak god and all my efforts to work.
At least I felt alone. Alone and powerless. And a little scared that this was a path I didn’t have the energy to travel. But Christ was with me. He has been with me since childhood, through times of faith and times of lazy spirits.
Christ has been teaching me to leave my weak, created god. And to put Work in the place it belongs, the role of tool and not of deity. Work is a tool to serve God and, secondarily, to provide financially for the life we live on Earth.
Christ is the true God, and He is teaching me to better recognize and enjoy His rule. I have started to destroy the god of Work, a slow and messy process. At times I feel quite scared, and I want to bow down to Work and ask him for my food and money. But I know that Christ is greater and that He deserves my worship.
Christ’s light and power in us enable us to leave behind our foolishness and walk more fully in God’s path. Breaking this god of Work is part of the path God has me on. Your situation will be as different as you are. But we all are tempted to serve created gods, and we need God’s liberation to seek Him only. Ask God to bring you to your own journey of destroying the gods you have created.
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Robert and his wife Jeni found each other in Spain and became teachers in Madrid. God has blessed them with a beautiful baby named Sofia Lynn. Robert has a background in mental health services and writes perspective pieces for Christ-following fathers far from home at GrabCourage.com
