One of the things that I have always struggled with is getting too involved with too many things at once. A lot of times that just results in me being too busy. But recently there have also been some significant moments in my life that I have attempted to fashion my own “golden calf” into the god that I needed to make sure that my own goals and dreams would come true, actually ignoring at times the call from the one true God who happens to loves me very much! I mistakenly blurred a few lines along the way, rationalizing my decisions, my actions and my involvement with things as if it were God telling me that I was on a right path, when I was actually far off the road that He had prepared just for me.
I recently read an article by author and life motivator, Kate Bowler who offered this sobering reality: “We are much more likely to do exactly what the Israelites have done [in fashioning our own golden calf], not to have a false image of a false God, but a false image of the true God. We take great comfort in our own version of God instead. Perhaps one that is composed of bits of things I already know are good and golden, things I melted into a godlike form.” (Idolatry Is the Most Seductive Sin in Town, Sojourners Magazine - February 14, 2022)
The article continues with a reflection on a few comments from the book Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield. The author offers that the art of writing is a metaphor for life, stating how much easier it is to pursue a version of something rather than the real thing, or how much easier it is to substitute a safer, lesser goal for the tough and exciting work you really ought to be doing. Pressfield calls this a “shadow career.”
Bowler adds that “we fall in love with the things that are almost true. We start taking our gold and pouring it into a cast that we can shape with our own hands, one that inspires us and challenges us, but is not, necessarily, given to us by the one true God.” After all, “what is idolatry except beautiful things that do not transform us?”
So for Lent in 2024, I invite you to join me as I’m working on recognizing and celebrating the love of God our midst, and all that is TRUE, while giving up the “almost truths” and the “golden calves” that have lead me (and maybe you) astray in the past.
More From Kate Bowler
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