22nd April 2023

He’s the only one

I’ve been watching Star Trek again – the original series this time. While the special effects are corny and some of the interaction among the characters wouldn’t be acceptable today, many of the stories are still relevant and the ideas presented are thought-provoking. Several of the episodes feature aliens who are either all-powerful, super-enlightened, immortal or have a god-complex. It’s interesting how the writers treated the topic of deities.

Nothing much has changed since the 1960’s Star Trek series – actually nothing much has changed since the beginning of human history – when it comes to misconceptions and misunderstanding of who God really is. Human beings were made to worship and when they didn’t know who to worship, they made their own gods. Now, instead of golden calves and statues, we tend to worship ourselves. Some think when God told the Israelites to worship him, he was displaying an ego problem, like he needed their adulation to make himself feel better. In reality, he was telling them all the gods they came up with in their imaginations weren’t worth worshiping – only he was, because he created everything. 

All the gods and idols created by us reflected us, with human characteristics and behaviors, from demanding worship, to temper tantrums, to romantic conquests and ruthless ambition. When we act as our own god, we are much the same. There is only one God and only he is worthy of our worship, which is the only fitting response to him who is wholly other, holy, not like us, not like anything we could imagine, the creator and redeemer of all that is. He is the only God who emptied himself to become one of us and then died on a cross to save us. 

As we have recently celebrated the resurrection, may we worship and honor him every moment of our lives, in all we do, think and say. He was, is and will be the only true God.

Study by Tammy Tkach

First published on 4 April 2023, at www.gemsofgodsgrace.wordpress.com

 

About the writer:
Tammy Tkach is the Assistant Pastor of the Eugene, Oregon, USA congregation. She is a speaker and writer, and publishes a blog at www.gemsofgodsgrace.wordpress.com  

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