Gospel With JD GreearSample

Gospel Approval

Sometimes we act like adulterers. That’s a disturbing analogy. What does it mean? As you know, an adulterer is someone who finds in someone else an intimacy he should find in his spouse. We’re adulterers to God when we look for happiness, contentment, and security in places and people other than Him, the only true source of all those blessings.

In these well-known Old Testament passages God warned Israel about idolatry, which would separate them from Himself. Sadly, we all sometimes fall victim to idolatry. Let’s look at the way God responds to us when we run from Him.  

When the founding fathers of the United States of America decided to fight for their freedom from British sovereignty, they laid out the case for their revolution in the well-known document called the Declaration of Independence. In the preamble, the most famous section of the document, they articulated the ideals behind their declaration. Perhaps no line is more repeated or well known than: 

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

That last right, the pursuit of happiness, has become a mantra almost synonymous with “the American way.” 

Thank God for a country that gives us such freedom. But we’re adulterers when we use that freedom to seek other things more than God. Many of us search for joy on various unfulfilling paths, often forgetting to ask how to find fulfillment from the very one who created that desire within us. God’s presence and approval are all you need for everlasting joy. 

If you would like to learn more about Gospel: Recovering the Power of Christianity Bible Study by J.D. Greear, please visit LifeWay.com/Gospel.