Pastor John Van Sloten

One of the things I’ve come to realize through this ‘seeking God in creational revelation’ journey is that often our idolatrous pursuits are aimed in the same direction as a genuine pursuit of God.  The problem with idolatry is that it falls short, or misses the mark (sometimes via a near miss), sort of like how arrows fail to hit the bullseye on an archery target.  Even though the idolatrous pursuit misses, it is still, often, aimed in the right direction.  To me there is a grace in this understanding.  I’ve always thought that idolatrous pursuits were always aimed in directions that were diametrically opposed to God – 180 degrees in the other direction.  But my experience  in discerning true, Godly yearnings in people’s love of art, sport, science, etc…  have led me realize that the problem doesn’t lie in the artful, sporting or scientific direction, it’s that the person pursuing them didn’t take their seeking far enough (pull back the bow far enough), or rightly set their launch angle – leaving them just a degree or two off course (which is still a miss, of course).  All this to say that I think that this more gracious view of idolatry leaves me in a better place in terms of helping others shoot further, or aim more accurately.  A bullseye is a lot closer than many in our near-missing world know.