Faith,
I have a confession. You’re going to think it’s silly, but hear me out: I absolutely love the Original Pancake House.
Some OPH locations have coffee mugs in different colors. Personally, I love the blue and green ones, but I really dislike the red, pink, yellow, or orange mugs. In fact, I’ve been known to request a specific color from my server! They smile and tell me I’m not the first person to ask.
Now, I freely admit that’s a bit much. Trust me. I can enjoy pancakes with a yellow mug; it’s simply a preference. But what if I believed the blue and green mugs were lucky? What if I believed that failing to get the right color meant something horrible would happen? What if I started putting my faith in a ceramic mug?
That would cross the line into superstition. As one pastor famously quipped, “You may not be superstitious, but aren’t we all a little ‘stitious’?”
This week, as we round out our three-week series on the second commandment—”No Idols”—we are going to explore how easily we can fall into this trap. Whether it’s checking our horoscopes, flirting with astrology, or looking to good-luck charms or habits, we all drift into “magical thinking.” We’ll look at how all of us inadvertently invest faith in irrational thoughts, actions, or objects, trying to bypass God to secure a little control or power for ourselves.
I hope to see you on Sunday. Feel free to leave the lucky rabbit’s foot at home!
In Christ alone,
Pastor Brad
Downloadable message notes are here.
Due to the nature of this week’s message, I have chosen not to post “deeper dive” videos.