I learned about syncretism in my Old Testament survey class. It's the combination or fusion of different forms of beliefs and/or practices. In 2 Kings 17:33 (yes... I finally made it here!) it says: "They feared the LORD and served their own gods according to the custom of the nations from among whom they had been carried away into exile." And in verse 41: "So while these nations feared the LORD, they also served their idols, their children likewise and their grandchildren, as their fathers did, so they do to this day." When I was reading this, I realized that I'm just like the people of Israel. They were trying to fit God into the holes that their other gods didn't fill. They were serving God... but they were also serving themselves, and in the end they always wound up rejecting God. "To this day they do according to the earlier customs: they do not fear the LORD, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances or the law. or the commandments which the LORD commanded the sons of Jacob, whom He named Israel" (vs. 34). We can't just fit God in... we have to give Him a place in our lives. That's something I'm starting to realize more and more as I read through the Old Testament, and study at school. School, work, and friends may keep me busy, but God has got to come first. I can't just find a spot for Him at the end... because at the end there won't be any room. I have to give God a spot first and then fit the rest in. I can't serve two masters. "No one can serve two masters; for either he wil hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth" (Matthew 6:24). I want to choose to say NO to syncretism. I don't give God enough alone time. I figure "I can text in between reading verses", or "this music is worship music after all... it won't distract me that much!" I think that God deserves at least 5 minutes without a cell phone buzz interrupting my time with Him - God deserves SO much more than that. He sent His Son to die on a cross for me... even though He knew that I would put other things before Him, even though I know that He is the most important thing in my life.
Christmas is getting closer and this is the perfect time to remember this. Christmas is the time we celebrate the gift of God to us - His Son. I want God to hold a special place in my heart and in my life. I want Him to be first. Say no to syncretism and put God first.
