Our conception of our lives has been influenced by a farming metaphor – the image of the silo. We think of our lives being comprised of silos. I have my financial life, my work life, my church life, my home life, and I have my sex life. But when the Bible talks about the heart or the soul, it is the integrating place that is the whole of you. The soul is not like a silo; it is much more like a sponge. A sponge absorbs water throughout itself. When you put a sponge in water, the whole sponge receives the water. This is why Jesus said, “You cannot serve two masters.” You are an integrated being, a sponge, if you will. Silo living does not work for the human soul. If you give one part of your life to a master other than Jesus, every part of your life will eventually suffer the impact of that master’s reign. The best and only hope for my life to be spiritually whole and healthy is for Jesus to be the master of every dimension of my life.
If power is not dethroned, Jesus cannot be on the throne.
If money is not dethroned, Jesus cannot be on the throne.
If family is not dethroned, Jesus cannot be on the throne.
If my will is not dethroned, Jesus cannot be on the throne.
Look at what Jesus says in Mathew 10:35: “For I have come to turn “a man against his father, daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law- a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me…”
Jesus wants to dethrone every idol in your life, even the good ones, because he knows your soul is like a sponge. He knows that he alone can rule you without destroying you. Every other master will kill you eventually. Whether pride, power, pleasure, the pursuit of happiness, or any other seemingly benign master, each has the power to destroy you if you give it dominion of any part of your life.
Advent is an ideal season in which to prayerfully examine the ways we may be giving power to masters other than Jesus and to repent. We can confidently renounce these other rulers as deceivers and cheats, promising goodness but delivering only temporary satisfaction and ultimate heartache. We can recognize the sponge-like quality of our souls and humbly and joyfully return to the Lord Jesus. We can renew our submission to his sole lordship, always offered to us in love, for our wellbeing. Come, Lord Jesus.
Susie Grade 