WHAT IS IN YOUR HEART?

Monuments have been a significant part of human history for thousands of years, serving as symbols of power, remembrance, and cultural identity. The earliest monuments were created by ancient civilizations as a way to commemorate their gods, rulers, and victories in battle. The city squares of the Greek era were crammed with statuary of gods and men. Monuments play an important symbolic role in people’s lives and are erected as part of a visual culture that continually reminds us of something or someone important.

The Old Testament refer to monuments from the era of Noah, who ‘built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it’ (Gen.8:20). The building of altars became a practice for the patriarchs when they had an encounter with God. Throughout the Bible, an altar indicates approach to God, or communion with Him. The Ark of the Covenant, the tabernacle and later the temple, was a reminder that the God of Israel was dwelling among the Israelites. There was no image of Him because He forbade images (Exo.20:4), but the temple was an earthly copy of God's dwelling place in heaven (Heb.8:5). As long as the temple was standing, the Israelites knew that God was among them, to protect and provide for them.

Whenever Israel fell into idolatry, God allowed the tabernacle or temple to be destroyed (Jer.7:9-14). God accused Israel of setting up idols in their hearts, when their hearts were supposed to be filled with love for Him (Eze.14:3-5). God also accused the leaders of Israel, to have secret rooms for idols in their hearts and minds (Eze.8:10-12). In Psalm 49:10-11, the psalmist reminds himself that although people name countries after themselves, they all die and the grave will be their home.

In the New Testament, Jesus gave His followers two very important symbolic reminders of His presence with us: baptism and communion (the Lord's supper). These sacraments (religious ceremonies) symbolizes the believer's participation in the crucified and resurrected Christ. It does the same task as a national monument, linking common historical heritage and forging cohesive identity. Through participation, a believer acknowledges connectedness to a wider faith community, the church. However, the most common symbol of Christianity is the cross. It is the universal symbol recognized by every other culture in the world. The persecution of the early church was mainly because Christians refused to worship the Roman Emperor by burning incense to his image or statue. They lost their lives, their homes, their income, even their families, because they refused to allow any other Lord into their hearts, except Jesus Christ.

PRAYER POINTS

ME: What cultural monuments, statues, buildings, temples and symbols are there in your heart that you are unwilling to let go? Allow the Holy Spirit to search your heart to see if there is a secret room of images that displeases Him (Eze.8:10-12).

US: Pray that Christians will no longer use culture as a weapon against Christians of other cultures. Pray that the Holy Spirit will help us to lay down our cultural weapons, our monuments, our statues, even our heritage, so that we may be truly one in Christ.

THEM: Pray Romans 10:11-15 in your own words as a prayer for your nation.

Remember your John 17 memory verse.

“In every Christian’s heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne till he puts himself on the cross. If he refuses the cross he remains on the throne." – A.W. Tozer.