Unfortunately for Lloyd, I had to get on the highway to go home yesterday. And it meant going 60. Also, unfortunately for Lloyd I was a bit more curious than I was caring. I wondered at what speed the webs would be destroyed. But I didn’t realize it’d cost my little friend his life. You see, after I got going about 50mph the web started twisting and turning and Lloyd’s supper spilled onto the highway…except one gloriously plump fly.
What Lloyd did next shocked me. He practically turned into an action-film star, weathering the wind and shimmying his way to the middle of his tattered web to rescue his last remaining morsel. I expected him to stay safe in his side mirror home, but he I suppose he couldn’t allow his hard work to completely go to waste. He made his way to the middle of the web and clutched onto his one remaining fly. And then Lloyd was gone. He lost his grip and went tumbling onto Highway 60.
Lloyd reminded me of Gollum in Lord of the Rings when Gollum follows his precious into the flames of Mordor. And then I thought of my own penchant for idolatry. I’ll work really hard on something, devote much of my energies towards the thing and even place identity in that thing. And then it gets threatened and I cling to it. And, much like Lloyd, I end up with my guts spilled on the highway.
I was also impressed by the fervor with which my little buddy pulled his way out to the center of his crushed world to rescue the last vestige of his idol. I’m not sure that spiders have much of a memory, so I’ll forgive Lloyd for morphing that mornings treasure into his whole world. But we should know better, our memories ought to be a bit more long term. Yet we’ll still sacrifice the One who pulled us out of yesterday’s wilderness for the shiny broken cistern of today. And we’ll put more energy into rescuing our idol than we hardly ever did in worshipping the living God. Idolatry is dumb in this way.
My mind also went to that famous Jonathan Edwards sermon about a sinner being held over hell by nothing more than a spider’s web. Those things are pretty strong, but around 60mph they start to give. A powerful web that snagged a days worth of idols couldn’t endure the rage of the wind. So also our idolatry is strong enough to capture daily morsels but not enough to withstand the wrath of God. If we’re only living for the web and all that it’s caught then we’re going to end up disappointed. They, as Jeremiah the prophet said, “profit nothing”.
So don’t be a Lloyd. Our idols aren’t worth it. Stay in the safety of King Jesus even if it means the wind has dismantled all of our work.
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Photo source: here
