Idols

There are a lot of talent shows on t.v. these days.

Some even encourage you to try out and see if you’re the next Idol.

 

Did you get that?

Idol.

 

Throughout the Bible, God has shown His displeasure with idols in very clear ways.

In Exodus 20:3-6 God specifically says we are not to have any type of idol. We are not to make one in any shape. We are not to bow down to anything or to worship anything other than Him.

He goes on to tell us He is a jealous God and that He will severely punish those who make these choices.

 

God then shows He means this in Exodus 32.

In that passage we read about how angry God was the people had made a golden calf while they were waiting for Moses to return from visiting Mt. Sinai.

He responded by sending a plague on them as punishment (verse 35).

 

The subject of idols is also covered in the New Testament.

The book of 1 John closes with this warning –

Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

 

in 1 Corinthians 10:14, Paul specifically tells us to flee from idolatry*.

Clearly, worshiping idols is something to be avoided.

 

In order to do this, we need to understand what an idol is.

An idol is anything in our lives more important to us than God.

It’s anything we trust, obey, respect, or focus on more than God.

Anything we’d rather spend time on to the point of neglecting prayer, bible study, and worship.

Anything we turn to for comfort instead of turning to God.

Whatever has the most of our attention and is most important to us.

In short, it is whatever is our first priority.

 

It isn’t always something obvious like porn, drug addiction, or gambling.

It can be anything:

Material things like cars, clothes, or collections.

Actions like watching t.v., surfing the internet, playing on our phones, going places, or playing sports,

Thoughts like overly admiring an actor, rock star, romantic partner, or family member.

It is whatever is more important to us than spending time with, or focusing on, God.

 

Idols aren’t always very noticeable.

Sometimes, they are seemingly small things like, “I know I haven’t read my bible today, but I’m tired. I’d rather just zone out while playing on my phone for a while.”

Or, maybe it’s. “I don’t have time to volunteer with that program at church because I have to keep my weekends clear for the ball games.”

It might even be, “I know I should pray, but I’d rather___”.

Whatever you can fill in that blank with is probably an idol.

 

How do we turn away from idols and give God the attention He deserves?

We start by taking a serious look at our lives, paying attention to what occupies most of our time and focus.

Are we making excuses to ourselves about why we don’t need to read Scripture right now?

Are we promising ourselves we will pray later because right now we need to do this or that?

Are we so focused on our lives and what is going on around us that we don’t take time to even think about God or prayer or bible study?

 

We turn to God in prayer, humbly admit we’ve not been faithful to Him, explain how, apologize, and ask for help changing this.

We don’t admit to God we’ve been unfaithful because He doesn’t know.

We do it as a part of taking accountability for our actions.

Doing this helps us to take responsibility for our sin and release the idols we are holding on to.

 

We make a focused effort to improve.

We invite God into our situation and ask Him to work with, on, and through us as we seek to walk worthy of Him.

We set a specific time every day when we are going to read our bible.

We commit to regularly praying for ourselves and others.

We watch carefully to make sure we don’t re-engage with either that idol or any other.

 

We regularly ask God to show us if there is any area of our lives where we are allowing something to be more important to us than He is.

When He shows us something, we immediately pray, set it aside and re-focus our heart, mind, and eyes on Him.

 

We praise God for the progress we are making as we go along.

This helps us remember it is not about us doing it (which can become the sin of pride, another idol).

Instead, it reminds us it is God’s mercy and His grace that allows us to make this progress.

Praise also strengthens our faith and draws us closer to God.

The closer to God we become, the less room there is for us to get attached to an idol.

 

We pray and ask the Lord to guard us from falling into that trap again.

We ask Him to guard our hearts even as we work to ourselves guard our hearts and minds.

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When we do these things we are free from the idols that seek to distract us and bring us into bondage.

We can now focus only on God, His love for us, and His will for our lives.

By doing that we can live our lives walking in freedom and full devotion to God, safe in the knowledge that we don’t have anything standing in the way of our relationship with Him.

 

 

What about you? Is there something in your life that holds more importance to you than your relationship with God?

How can you rearrange your life and the way you spend your time so you can properly give your relationship with Him the attention it needs?

 

*Idolatry – the worship of idols.

 

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it .-Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)

 

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. –Psalm 139:23 (NIV)