2 Kings 16:11
So Uriah the priest built an altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned.
I may be five days behind, but I’ll still say it with glee: Happy December everyone! Indeed, ‘tis the season to be jolly - the weather is cold, people are kind-er, and yes, Christmas decors are all up. This year, for the first time, I’m far away from my mom and her boxes of holiday ornaments. It’s a lot easier if you have supplies and allow creativity take its course. But to create from scratch? How do I choose a tree for instance? To think it’d be THE tree for a decade at least. Thanks to Google, I was able to find samples and inspirations too. Now all I have to do is gather my preferences, add some personal touch, and voila! I can have my own themed house. Of course I’d fool myself and sign as the designer, hahaha :>
When King Ahaz sat on the throne of Judah at age twenty, it seems his eye was fixed on making his name known, that is, apart from being the son of the silver jubilarian Jotham or his golden grandpa Uzziah. He wanted his own signature, and a distinction under that seal. So instead of walking in the traditional, godly ways of his fathers, he made himself different, hip and updated. He browsed through foreign religions and found sacrificing his son in the fire appealing. Later on, when he visited Damascus, he saw an altar there and readily sent a sketch to Uriah the priest to make a replica. Not many had the luxury traveling to and fro Syria and sure there were no strict copyright laws then. He could easily claim all glamour and glory for the new temple add-on. But his vanity crossed more lines. Not only did he insult God’s original design for a bronze altar, he completely discredited its use by pushing it back row to give way to his new altar. Regardless if in pretense, he ordered burnt offerings to continue there, we know for sure it never reached heaven’s gates. It may be bigger in size, trendy to some – but it still came short of THE standard. Fancy, but still a waste.
Anything not done in God's way is an offense to God's worth. As sole creator and idea-‘man’, it is an insult to deviate from His set rules and standards. He may have used up only six days and called it good, it doesn’t mean He wasn’t thorough and that His good isn’t best. The Bible may have been written three thousand years ago, by some uneducated men according to critics, but with God inspiring those hands, it’s still to us relevant and to the world, the best seller. Why? Because God is peerless! He is above all. Man’s greatest achievement is but a faint forgery of His works. We may try pushing His name on the back row but that cannot hide the truth that it shouldn’t be our signatures sealing those projects, keeping those relationships, meeting those needs. We are merely replicas inspired by His excellence, instructed by His love. We are all but copies – crafted in the image of the Almighty. We’re called to conform to the likeness of His Son, not to pursue originality. Maybe that’s the clue why we’re not functioning quite well in life – we’re deviating from His intended design. Now, we have twenty six days to consider a restart, to choose to embrace being His replicas. Second class? Nah! We are the faithful copy of God’s firstborn. Woew! You sure you still have better ideas?
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