As most of us know the first two Commandments given from our Lord is: “You shall have no other gods before Me…” and “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them…” (Exodus 20:3-5)
Some think this is a reference to only those in foreign lands that bow and worship actual statues and buildings and those of the Catholic beliefs who pray to man-made sculptures resembling the saints of the bible. However idolatry and the worship of other gods go far beyond that.
Every student of scripture will tell you that our job positions, success, emotions, pride, material things, and even the people in our lives e.g. husband, wife, children, girlfriend, boyfriend, boss, etc. can potentially turn into our gods and idols. Basically anything that comes before Christ and anything that has a significance over His Word is a god/idol.
For instance those who refuse to give their lives completely to Christ worship the god/idol of self, pride, success and material gain. Many religious Christians worship the god/idol of emotions, feelings, self-gratification and as we see in the Positive Confession / Word Faith Movements money, material gain, and abundance.
Do we find ourselves spending less time with the Word and more time caught up with other things? Then whatever that thing may be is also our god/idol and should be repented of today
Today’s devotional sheds some light on this very subject: Idolatry and the Worship of other gods…
—–
One great besetting sin of ancient Israel was idolatry, and the church is vexed with a tendency to the same folly. The ancient gods of man’s invention have mostly disappeared, but the shrines of pride (success, emotions, self-love, etc.) are not forsaken, and the golden calf still stands. Self makes an empty display, and the flesh sets up its altars wherever it can find space for them. Favorite children or (our spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, people of importance, etc.) are often the cause of much sin in believers; the Lord is grieved when He sees us doting upon them beyond measure; they will live to be as great a curse to us as Absalom was to David, or they will be taken from us to leave our homes desolate. If Christians desire to grow thorns with which to stuff their sleepless pillows, let them dote on their children.
It is accurate to say that “such are not gods,” for the objects of our foolish love are very doubtful blessings, the solace that they yield us now is dangerous, and the help that they can give us in the hour of trouble is small indeed. Why, then, are we so bewitched with vanities? We pity the poor heathen who worships a god of stone, and yet we worship a god of gold (material things, our job positions, our wealth, etc.) . Where is the vast superiority between a god of flesh and one of wood? The principle, the sin, the folly is the same in either case; the only difference is that our crime is more aggravated because we have more light, and sin in the face of it. The heathen bows to a false deity, but the true God he has never known; we commit two evils, inasmuch as we forsake the living God and turn to idols. May the Lord purge us all from this grievous iniquity!
The dearest idol I have known,
Whate’er that idol be;
Help me to tear it from Thy throne,
And worship only Thee.—
Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg. Copyright (c) 2003, Good News Publishers and used by Truth For Life with written permission. Today’s Bible Reading material is taken from McCheyne Bible reading plan and used by Truth For Life with permission. Scripture quotations are taken from Holy Bible: English Standard Version, copyright (c) 2001, Good News Publishers. (**Emphasis Added)
1 Thess. 5:21 