The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Habakkuk 2:18-20, “What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it,

Or an image, a teacher of falsehood?

For its maker trusts in his own handiwork When he fashions speechless idols.

19 “Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, ‘Awake!’ To a dumb stone, ‘Arise!’

And that is your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, And there is

no breath at all inside it.

20 “But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.”

When I read these verses this morning, I was captivated by the thought

that I might –just might—have idols in my life. The prophet hit me hard!

No, to be sure, I don’t have any idols like he mentions, idols of wood or stone,

or gold or silver. But I do have possessions. I don’t have anything much that

I have created; but I do have things that I have acquired. Are they idols?

They can be.

A house, a car, jewelry, clothing, computers, cell-phones, books –books?—

Just about anything we’ve made or acquired –things that we possess– can be

classified as idols. It’s not the amount of possessions we have, but it’s how

treasured those possessions are to us. And it’s time. How do we spend it?

For example, what dominates my attention to the extent that I gravitate to

it more than anything else? (I dare not criticize you, because I have things

that dominate me, just like you do.) Thus, this warning is to both of us. We

simply cannot afford to be dominated by anything other than the LORD, His

Holy Word and prayer! When the “chips are down,” what profit is greater

than the things of the LORD? Just think about it….

We earnestly pray for ourselves, as we lovingly pray for you,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”