The Gods You Must Carry

Their gods are like helpless scarecrows in a cucumber field!  They cannot speak, and they need to be carried because they cannot walk. – Jeremiah 10:5 (NLT)

Internet access has become a vital component of our nation’s infrastructure, just as crucial to our operations and development as roads and bridges. Yet a recent study by Microsoft found that 162 million Americans lack broadband internet – nearly half the U.S. population. With work, school, and even the census moving online, this causes serious problems for people who aren’t able to connect. 

Connection is the key to modern day progress. 

But as critical as connection to the world wide web is, the connections of moral values and ethical principles amidst global diversity are even more critical. Deities with no mobility only keep us truncated. Local devotions that lack the capacity to be transferred into broader contexts foster tribalism. 

Jeremiah’s diatribe of idolatry emphasizes the idol’s inability to walk or to move beyond the limited space of its locally created context. Thus, the idol has to be carried by its creators. 

In contrast, the God of all creation has no need to be carried, because God is present in all of creation. There is no territory in all creation that lies beyond the network of God’s amazing grace.

Instead of needing to be carried, the God of all creation is able to carry us … to the farthest, ever-expanding, ever-inclusive regions of God’s ubiquity.

Prayer
Lord, in your omnipresent Spirit, may we all find connection … and may we all be connected. Amen.

About the Author
Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Stone Mountain, Georgia.