What Will You Settle For?

Read Romans 1:18-23.

Bethlehem, Israel - 2014

On one of my trips to the Holy Land, our group convinced our guide to take us to a place called Emmaus-Nicopolis. Several of us had been on the Walk to Emmaus spiritual retreat, and we were interested in seeing the place where those two folks were headed in Luke 24. I came to find out there are at least 3 locations claiming to be "that place," hence the "hyphenated" name of the location we visited. As we arrived there, I wondered out loud why Emmaus isn't a "traditional" stop on the Holy Land tour. When we got off the bus, I realized why. Emmaus-Nicopolis was different than every other stop we had made...there were no souvenir stands.

Everywhere you go, in this country or in another one, the hot tourist stops always have souvenir stands. The really important stops have souvenir shops. (I laughed the last time we were in Bethlehem, because just around the corner from the Church of the Nativity was a place called "John the Baptist Souvenir Shop." The picture I took is above. I was glad to see John had gotten another career after his preaching gig!) What often happens is that we visit a significant place, and then the shops offer us something, some little tokens, to remind us of our visit. Perhaps it's even a little statue of whatever it is that we saw. A miniature. A substitute.

We have several of those sorts of things in our house; I'm not down on souvenirs. But we all know that the souvenir is just a reminder. It's a pointer. It's a symbol of a bigger experience, a more important experience. We don't travel far and wide to see a souvenir; we go places to experience "the real thing."

So why, then, so we settle for things that only point toward God rather than seeking to experience the real thing. Paul said that's what the Romans were doing. "Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles" (1:22-23). I like the way Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message: "They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand." In other words, we settle for souvenirs. A sunset. A beautiful mountain. Peace in life. Healing. Even theology and our beliefs. All of those things (and more) are only meant to point us toward God, not be the "end" upon which we settle. They're souvenirs. What Paul says the Romans had done with the little statue idols, we do with more commonplace idols. Money. Status. Cars. Stuff. We settle for less than God offers us.

Don't settle for the souvenir. Allow the souvenir to point you toward the real thing, the ultimate reality, the one who holds the whole world in his hands. Worship the creator, not the creation.