worship

“Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. You must not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,…” Exodus 20:4-5


The second commandment is one we tend to ignore in Christian society. Making graven images just isn’t that popular in our culture and we probably smile at the thought of being tempted to bow down and worship something made out of wood or stone or brass. If that is our only definition of idolatry then most of us probably can check off that commandment on our spiritual ‘to do’ list and go on our merry way. But is that all there is to it? Certainly bowing down to a physical man made object is part of the sin described in this commandment but there is more than one way to make an idol for ourselves.

What if we expanded our category of false gods beyond the realm of statues to included anything that we value or seek more than Adonai Yahweh, the Lord God? What if considered that idols can be things like; money, power, a friendship, our personal appearance, a job, education, a hobby, service, a house, or even ourselves? Is there something, anything, that you feel you could not live without? - ‘If _____ was taken away I’d fall apart!’ - Is there something that fills in that blank for you? Is there something or someone that you seek to give you joy, contentment, to fill that hole that only God can? Is there something you want so badly that you would sin to achieve it? If you look at idolatry through those lenses we are all guilty, in fact in may even be our most common sin! I know for me putting God first has never been easy. I have often believed the lie from Satan that something else could satisfy me better, that I must have God + _____ but it is such a lie! The truth is that anytime I put something on the same level as God it will bring me no lasting happiness but only heart ache and pain. Idols don’t fill us. They can’t. Instead they destroy us when we put our trust in them. I dare not seek a person above God because that relationship can never fill me and looking to that person as my god will devastate our friendship. It is so sad to rob ourselves of the pure joy good gifts from God can bring by putting them up on a pedestal, by sinking our claws into them and saying ’this is mine! Don’t take it away, I need it to live!’

But it is hard to let go. Hard because our hearts are sinful and still believe, whatever we try to tell them, that our idols are necessary for joy and life. To be free from this sin we must ask and allow God to transform our hearts. It can be easy to become discouraged when we come face to face with our own ugly sin but take heart my sisters, that’s why Jesus died, to save us from our sins!! He is in the business of changing lives so surrender your idols to Him and ask for strength to believe that God is ALL you need. I want to be single minded and whole hearted, don’t you?

As I have pondered idolatry in months past, trying to guard my heart against desiring anything too much and sometimes feeling my sin too great for me, a very wonderful thought came to me. There is one person I can never cling to or think about too much. I never have to worry that I might be loving Him too much, He can never occupy too high a place in my heart. I am of course talking about my King and Savior, Jesus. All my adoration, all my tribute, all my service will never become sinful because I can never give Him too much. Isn’t it freeing? Freeing because we were after all made to worship! Idolatry directs our worship in the wrong direction, from an all powerful God to some fallible part of His creation. Let us turn our hearts from our pitiful false gods to the True and Living One and pour our lives into worshiping Him. I imagine the more we know of HIS greatness the less likely we will be to turn again to empty things.