Stacks of Cash

As I walked past this shrine in our hotel, it had me thinking.  The shrine was supplied with fresh fruit, incense, and what caught my eye was stacks of hundred dollar bills - fake ones.  If those bills were real (as someone mused who passed by), they wouldn't remain there for long!  Why sacrifice real dollars for an idol which can't tell the difference?  This is the epitome of utilitarian religion.  Put on a good show and potentially receive a blessing.  If it doesn't pan out, no big loss.  Pretty weird to worship a god you take for a sucker.

It is most fitting fake money would adorn the altar of a false god.  What good is a god who has carved eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear, and a mouth which cannot speak?  What purpose does a god serve which cannot move itself but must be carried as dead weight?  Can such a god save?  Can it bless, protect, or provide anything?  I wonder if those who laid the fake Benjamins down ever stopped to think about this:  if a god is not able to tell the real from the fake, how can it know who is responsible for adorning the shrine?

Whilst there can be sinister spirits at work behind such idols, they are all nothing in comparison to the Living God.  The Bible concludes those who make and worship idols are just like them:  powerless.  Psalm 115:1-8 says, "Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but to Your name give glory, because of Your mercy, because of Your truth. ² Why should the Gentiles say, "So where is their God?" ³ But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases. ⁴ Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. ⁵ They have mouths, but they do not speak; eyes they have, but they do not see; ⁶ they have ears, but they do not hear; noses they have, but they do not smell; ⁷ they have hands, but they do not handle; feet they have, but they do not walk; nor do they mutter through their throat. ⁸ Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them."

Our God is in heaven and does whatever He wants on the earth, for He created it.  He knows all things!  Jesus answered the thoughts of men and discerned hypocrisy miles away.  Putting stacks of fake silver and gold into the treasure is hypocrisy, and God deserves far better than a superficial show.  May we honour Him, not with tithes and offerings only, but with hearts which truly love and trust Him.  Let us be living sacrifices unto the LORD which is our reasonable service, for He is worthy.  Jesus didn't shed His blood for stacks of cash:  He did so to redeem your soul from death and in so doing demonstrate the love of God for unworthy sinners.  Incredible, right?