My Post and Idolatry by Melanie Chambers

You might think it
doesn’t make sense that post and idolatry could be linked but let me show that
in fact it was for me. God revealed to me that I was somewhat devoted to, and
placed significance in something that didn’t deserve it.

As a child I thought it was great that my parents always received lots of sealed,
important and interesting looking envelopes. I remember asking my mum on at
least one occasion why she got so much post. I thought that she must be
important because so many different letters and sometimes parcels came to the
door, but my mum said that it wasn’t that great as they were mostly
bills which she was not excited to receive.

Even though the post was mainly
bills that didn’t matter to me; I often felt disappointed that I did not get
post with my name on it, but around my birthday and Christmas I would receive
brightly coloured envelopes just for me. My post made me feel important -
like someone had something just for me; it was sealed so no else knew what had
been written except for the person who sent it and me once I’d opened it. I remember feeling happy and content that I also received stuff that
was hand delivered to the door - just for me.

As I got older more post came to the door,
just for me. I really liked getting post;
I enjoyed receiving the post. Maybe it
seems a little bizarre and perhaps a bit silly; however, I just want to make it
clear that I did not hang around the letter box till the post was delivered!
Once I heard the post drop through the letter box or got home to find post on
the stairs, I was pleased to see post for me. My post had a place in my heart,
and it satisfied me on some level – definitely an issue concerning ‘Self’.

Ok, so that was then as an adult I like to think
that I’ve grown up from such childish ways, but really somewhere inside me I
still enjoyed getting post. Obviously the post I get is much the same as the
post my mum got. Oh yes, the bills, bills and offers of loans and credit cards keep
coming through the door, which I’m not always pleased about once I’ve opened my
post. However, I still have a certain excitement that arises within me when
there is post delivered or disappointment when it is just the free newspaper.

Maybe this issue
with my post seems insignificant and to me it was, until God showed me how it
mattered to Him. One day, I was at home worshipping God, and reading the Word when I
heard the door. I felt within me a desire to go and check out the post, and as
I went to the hallway I stopped in my tracks. In a moment of silence, I confronted the desire that arose in me, and questioned whether I should
feel like this. The answer is of course 'No' because it was as if my flesh
needed to be gratified through getting the post.

In someway my childhood
desire impacted on me in what I suppose is a small way, but to God it
matters greatly. Now I have to delay getting the post so that I do not feed the
desire to gratify my ‘Self’. I believe that God wants this place in my heart,
and the devotion to my post has to be given over to God so that my lifestyle of
worship is truly to God alone.

I can get all the things that I liked about receiving
post and more through a relationship with God. In reality, God is able to
communicate with me in all manner of ways that reflect His love for me, and so
God really deserves my full devotion some of which was being given to my post.
God is a jealous God, and He will not take second place in our lives.

I am very thankful to be loved by a true and living God that leads me in the way
everlasting. ‘Search me, O God and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts; And see if there
be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting’. (Ps 139:23-24).

In reading this
I hope that you’ve understood the message I have tried to communicate.
The American Tract Society Dictionary defines idolatry as 'preference of, and devotion to something other than the Most High’.