UN/Broken - Day 11

Luke 4:8
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’

In rejecting the temptation for earthly omnipotent power, Jesus appealed to the commandment that we are to put only God in what Pargament (2007, p. 33) describes as the sacred core. Closely linked to the false gods of power and fame (described in the following three verses) is making a false god of the self. As theologian Thomas Oden clarifies, “It is God whom we worship. We gather not to worship ourselves…but nothing less than God alone….” (1983, p. 94). 

Still, the self is not inherently unsacred. Pargament (2007, p. 42) points out that the self can be sanctified and manifest the sacredness of God, as seen in texts such as “God created man…in the image of God” (Genesis 2:27) and “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). However, this is when the self is enlightened by God, who is the only entity worthy of true worship.

JOURNAL:
It is too easy for most of us to put ourselves in the sacred core, making ourselves a false god; when are you most susceptible to this?