Sometimes people say, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” Sounds sensible. After all, with several baskets, if you drop one you can still have bacon and eggs for breakfast. Good news.
I’m sure you’ve heard the advice. “Don’t limit yourself. Don’t be too narrow. Don’t be over committed.” Get a nice balance in life and keep your options open. The more baskets you have, the safer your eggs will be.
The Great Egg Philosophy seems so wise. So people try it with religion too.
It’s fine to go to church and be into God, but don’t go over the top. Don’t put all your eggs there – you need some other baskets too. It’s fine for God to be part of your life, but don’t go mad; don’t act like He is the only basket.
After all, it’s your life, not His, so do what makes you feel good. There are lots of other things in life that can make you happy.
So we spread our eggs out. We try to live for God AND live for a bunch of other stuff too. Sure God is important. But so is my sport, or my career, or my friends, or my clothes, or my exam results…I can have it all.
That’s what the idols of today look like. They whisper to us: “you need me. Without me, your life will be rubbish.”
What is it for you?
What has the power to make you truly happy? What could you not imagine life without? What do you get excited about?
Is it sporting achievement that drives you? Or academic success? Or the desire for a boyfriend? Or a great career? Or having the latest stuff? Or the next party?
Take a moment and look honestly at your heart.
These things are the idols we worship, and they quickly get a hold on us. They promise us so much. They promise to make us happy and make us feel good. We don’t want to let them go, so we adopt the Great Egg Philosophy. I’ll have God AND I’ll have my idols. I’ll have many baskets.
But God is not happy. God doesn’t want to be one of your baskets; He doesn’t want to be one of the options.
He wants ALL our eggs. He wants to be your only basket.
Perhaps that sounds a bit demanding. Just stop a moment and remember who we’re talking about. He is the true and living God. He created you. Your life is not yours. It is His. Those other gods that captivate your heart are false. They whisper lies to us but they can’t deliver what they promise. Only the living God can satisfy. Only the living God is worth living for.
And God loves us. He loves us too much to allow us to continue in our idolatry, so He calls us to take courageous and decisive action. He calls us to murder those false gods that hang around in our hearts.
It might sound scary, but this is the route to exciting, radical, Jesus-centred living.
– Hero, Jonty Allcock
