June 23 - IDOLATRY - Exodus 20:4-5

⁴ You shall not make for yourself

an idol, whether in the form of

anything that is in heaven above,

or that is on the earth beneath,

or that is in the water under the earth. 

⁵ You shall not bow down to them

or worship them

Exodus 20

 

When times are tough, I’ll bet you don’t have a golden calf on your mantle that you turn to in prayer. I’ll bet you don’t bow down to trees. And if you were talented enough to carve a beautiful statue of Jesus, I’ll bet you wouldn’t worship the wooden statue (instead of the living Lord)!

 

Therefore, most of us would say, “The second commandment really doesn’t apply to me.”

 

Well, if you’d ever thought that, you’d be wrong!

 

For one, I grew up in an age when people were all the time saying, “Well, the God I worship would never do ________.” And then they fill in that blank that something that sounds so wise and humanistic … yet contradicts a basic Biblical truth (that they didn’t like). Have you ever done that? ^{See a list of examples of these statements – with answers – tomorrow.}

 

Well, what is that doing? This person is painting a mental picture of God in their brain and choosing to worship an image of “god” that contradicts the revelation of scripture.

 

Oops.

 

That’s one form of idolatry.

 

There’s another … The most basic form of idolatry is any false priority that battles with God for influence in our hearts and minds. And being human, we fall victim to this all of the time.

 

My wife led a Bible Study once on idols. The group was full of moms. I don’t know about your house, but my home would fall apart without mom’s attention to detail! That’s a mom trait. It’s a helpful blessing in most families. Yet that good trait puts moms at risk. Indeed, most of the women in that group concluded that “control” was their biggest idol. This phenomenally faithful group of women absolutely believed in their minds that God was in control … but they acted constantly as if it all depended on them!

 

How about you? Which modern idols do you (accidentally) bow to? Money? Possessions? Bigger, better, newer? Entertainment? Distraction? Religion? (You can worship the practice of a “good religion” rather than worshiping God himself.) False religions and superstitions? Job and salary? Rules and legalism? Worry and fear? Self? Pride? Insecurity? Reliance on politics? Living vicariously through our kids?

 

Idolatry – false worship – is very important to understand. It is one of the root enslavements that expresses itself in hundreds of enslaving symptoms. Indeed, most of the things listed above are symptoms! The root enslavement is trusting ______ (self, the world, human answers, and possessions) more than God.

 

That’s the wake-up call behind the second commandment. And what’s the method of healing? The first commandment! God first! Trust him. (It’s very simple, and yet very hard for us humans.)

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who’s occasionally

an idle idolator

(but wants to be a

glorious glorifier instead)