Plagues and Gods

This week we started looking at the story of Moses, from his humble beginnings, to his exile, to his call as God's chosen leader. In the process we opened a discussion of the 10 plagues inflicted upon the Egyptians as a prelude to the release of the Israelites from captivity. What is interesting to note is that these plagues are not simply random creative acts by God by rather specifically chosen events designed to attack the perceived powers of Egyptian gods.

In order to better understand this, I had my students work in groups to identify gods of this age. These lists typically included things such as fame, wealth, technology, appearance, etc. Then I had students image what kind of plague might attack these perceived powers of these modern gods. Some of the ideas were rather creative. For instance, one group suggested that an excellent plague to attack the god of appearance would be a virus that led to severe acne for everyone. Another was that a solar flare would knock out our grid so that technology was unusable.

This activity, along with a Twitter discussion I had this morning connected to the LEA Administrators Conference, got me thinking about the many gods that get our greater attention -- MY greater attention. For instance, is God my God or is my school my god? Do I care more about the maintenance of my own school environment than I care about sharing the Gospel message? Other gods can easily get in the way as well. During the summer, I need to intentionally work to make sure that God stays God and that baseball doesn't become god. You can probably think of any number of gods that emerge for yourself as well.

This serves as a reminder to me to re-commit to the God who is true God -- the Triune God of heaven -- the God revealed to us through His Word and through the person of Jesus Christ, who died and rose for us so that we might be eternally reconciled with Him. Why wouldn't we want to put first in our lives the God who has made it possible for me to be free from the guilt of what I have or haven't done so that I may have eternal life?

This week my school, Lutheran High School, shared its vision for future growth for the first time with our larger community. The excitement of students was clear as we discussed these plans in our classroom. The larger of conversation about gods is important for me as we embark on this journey as a school. A new field, new classrooms, and a second gymnasium cannot be turned into gods by any of us. Rather, our focus needs to be on these structures as tools that serve to carry out the saving message of Christ to a larger audience -- to have "Greater Impact", as our campaign title proclaims.

Join me in renewing our commitment to God being our God, to confession for those times we stray from this focus, and to rejoicing in the forgiveness of our risen Savior so that we may serve Him with joy!