Why Doing Right Doesn't Please God, Pt. 2

Mark Driscoll said something that puts our efforts to stay away from sin in a new light. Sin is not sin because it is on a list of things we aren't supposed to do. It is sin because it takes away from our love for God.

"Let's say that you're an alcoholic. You don't have an alcohol problem; you have a worship problem. Your problem is, you worship alcohol instead of Jesus. You go to alcohol for comfort, rather than Jesus. You go to alcohol to sleep better, rather than Jesus. You go to alcohol to deal with the pain in your life, rather than Jesus. Alcoholism is an idolatry issue. And the reason that people continue to drink is that the bottle lies to them. It says, "you will be free, you will be happy, you will be relaxed, you will forget your problems." It promises freedom and it delivers slavery.

The same happens with food. If you're a glutton, the problem is not that you eat too much, the problem is that you have idolized food. You deify food. Food is in the place of Jesus. When you do well you reward yourself with food. When you don't do well, you reward or punish yourself with food. Your identity is around what you do and do not eat. Your constant mediation is on food and weight and subsequently appearance, and not Jesus.