El Olam (Everlasting God)

The wisest of people who worship idols are stupid and foolish. The things they worship are made of wood! They bring beaten sheets of silver from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz, and they give these materials to skillful craftsmen who make their idols. Then they dress these gods in royal purple robes made by expert tailors. But the Lord is the only true God, the living God. He is the everlasting King! The whole earth trembles at his anger. The nations hide before his wrath.

- Jeremiah 10:8-10

When I lived in Chad, I remember watching a man chop down a tree. He cut off several of the limbs and used them as trusses for his hut’s new roof. He took part of the trunk to another man to be turned into a dugout canoe. The smaller limbs were set aside to dry so that they could be used for firewood. However, one particular limb was set aside with much ceremony and muttered prayers. He cut himself and allowed the blood to drip onto the twisted limb. When I asked him what he was doing, he responded that this piece of wood was to be turned into an idol. He would strip the bark off, elaborately carve it and stain it with cow dung. Then he would set it up in an altar and pray to it. I thought to myself, “That’s dumb!”

Jeremiah was a little more acerbic in his comments. He said the wisest of idolatrous people are “stupid and foolish…and have no knowledge at all.” We tend to agree with him as long as it has to do with some ignorant “savage” in Africa. But are we so different?

We worship regularly at the altar of Materialism. We sacrifice large portions of our lives working to pay off the debts that we incur by our profligate use of credit cards. We do this so that we can have all those things NOW. We give up our time with God on Sundays so that we can mow our grass, polish our cars or improve our golf swing. We work for, buy, get warranties on and struggle to maintain our gods. In the hearts of many, the only other god more important than Materialism is the god of Self! Self demands pleasure, comfort, praise, thanks, attention, rights and an audience for our opinions (whether they are right or wrong, biblically).

El Olam, the Everlasting God, does not need maintenance. He is eternal. He is immutable (which means He never changes). He doesn’t need our efforts. In every other religion of the world, the false god requires his/her/their adherents to work and sacrifice for the god. Christianity teaches that our God worked and sacrificed for us! He cannot be housed in our puny little buildings. No monument is sufficient for an everlasting, eternal God. There is only one temple in which He chooses to be housed – the temple of our hearts.