Royal Palace, Phnom Phen, Cambodia

I’ll never forget walking into my first temple. We were asked to dress modestly and leave our shoes at the door and photos were prohibited.

As my bare feet hit the cold floor, a sensation that’s hard to describe washed over me. It was a mixture of panic and claustrophobia. The beautiful gold filigree’s and ornate architecture, meant to evoke adoration, instead held shadows.

I couldn’t wait to leave, but a curiosity to experience what so many had dedicated their lives to, kept pushing me forward.

I walked past ornate furniture and burning incense. It’s as if the room sloped towards the focal point, the great weight that was housed at the other end: a massive gold statue of buddha.

I could see an old woman prostrating herself before it, searching for hope, searching for answers, hoping to unburden her soul with sacrifice. Her face was etched with wrinkles and her hands had seen toil, being knobbed and worn. This was not new to her.

Words played in my mind about a God not made with earth and clay, but a God who lives and breathes, as if poking a hole through my clouded sky.

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” Revelations 21:3.  

Growing up in the United States and hearing about temples and shrines to other gods couldn’t have prepared me for this.

Being someone who didn’t grow up in a Buddhist nation or in Buddhist ideology, I can’t credibly evaluate the fruits of what it produces. Rindy, however, had some very pungent words on Buddhism that I will not soon forget. His words have opened up a whole new understanding to me, as he is someone who lived in the dark halls of a temple for a few years of his childhood.

This is what he said:

“You people in America have the wrong idea about Buddhism. The punishment was so severe. You had to worship [monks] in a certain way [retracted to not give spoilers away]… If your family didn’t donate much you didn’t get treated well and if you’re a nobody you tend to be mistreated.”

I then asked if he remembered any specific names of the people he encountered:

“I just blocked names out…some monks were meaner than other monks.”

While revisiting Rindy’s memories as well as my own while being in Cambodia, I’ve been thinking a lot about the implications of serving other gods. In very literal ways as portrayed in Cambodia, but also in more subtle ways.

This verse 1 John 5:21 hits differently in the NLT version than any of the others. It’s the version in which I first read it and that impression remains. It says:

“Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.”

I don’t think many of us (if we profess to be following Jesus) have shrines to buddha, baal or asherah in our homes. But how many other little, dare I say lesser things, are vying for that place in our lives that belongs to the God we profess to worship?

How much time have I dedicated to knowing this God I profess to follow? How much time do I spend in prayer versus listening to books? How much time do I spend reading His life-breathed word, versus feeling the need to check social media? How much time do I give anxiety and worry over pondering His goodness? Have I allowed my children, my husband, or my friends to overshadow my need for Him?

It’s not even always a conscious decision I make saying “today I’m going to serve the god of social media” or today I’m going to “serve the god of worry.” The distraction of my eyes, is often telling. The source of my hope, is telling. Most of all, the fruit of my life is telling.

If comparison and discontentment are the fruits of my life, I often find that social media has been taking too much of my focus. If anger and frustration, then I often find that self has sat on my throne, as opposed to God. If worry and anxiety, then a careful examination shows that the news or the political climate has knocked God off his proper throne.

There is no comparison for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. There are countless verses that speak to the fruits of following Him and I could feel pages with them. But here are a few of my favorites:

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit,” Romans 15:13.

“The Lord will give strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace,” Psalms 29:11.

Fighting the subtleness of the erosion of my own single-focused adoration is the fight of my life. It’s often an unconscious drift from the truth of scripture to the things I feel to be more real and more prevalent, than the God who holds it all together. It’s the drift towards the shiny.

If I truly profess to love Him, then He deserves all the wonder, all the worship and all the wholehearted pursuit that I can muster.

And so, I go forward with my face towards the only Giver of peace and joy that I have ever known, while turning away from the many shiny gods that will never satisfy.

My greatest hope, is that you do too.