American Idols

Under the old covenant, the children of Israel were told not to worship idols of precious metal, wood and stone. In the New Testament, John closes out his first letter with a similar admonition. He writes:

Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. – 1 John 5:21 (NIV)

The Apostle Paul said that greed is idolatry (Colossians 3:5). We may not have American idols of gold, stone and wood, but we definitely have idols that we worship. We have idols of green paper that we worship. We have idols of celebrity, entertainment and sports that we worship. We worship idols of pleasure and leisure. We worship our families and our children. We worship our jobs. We worship our country and our planet. Anything or anyone that you put before Jesus is an idol. As followers of Jesus, we believe that God is God and everything else is a potential idol. Every day we must fight the battle against idolatry in our lives. Every idol will disappoint you because you were made for a relationship with your Creator, not His creation.

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Idols

1 John 5:21 (NIV)

Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

John abruptly ends his letter with a six word exhortation to keep yourselves from idols.  We tend to think of idolatry as an ancient problem.  We don’t bow down and worship statues made of precious metals or stone, do we?  Maybe not, but we do have idols in our lives.  An idol is anything that takes your worship away from God.  So what kinds of idols do we have in the 21st century?

• Success is an idol
• Money is an idol
• Fame is an idol
• Entertainment is an idol
• Our children can be our idols
• Sports is an idol
• Church is sometimes an idol
• Busyness is an idol

Whatever comes between you and God is your idol.  Whatever takes the place of God in your life is an idol.  I’m not talking about things that keep you from going to church on a Sunday morning.  I am talking about the things that take God off of the throne of your heart.  What do you spend your time doing?  Take a look at your calendar.  On what do you spend your money?  Take a look at your bank statement.  Do you spend time with God?  Do you use your resources for God?

Don’t let the idols of this life preoccupy your time and money.  Don’t let the idols of this life keep you from truly worshiping the one true God.  Don’t let the idols of this life keep you from growing in your faith and going deeper with God in devotion and surrender to Him.  Keep yourself from idols.

PRAYER: Father, I want YOU to sit on the throne of my heart today.  Be my King.  Rid my life of the idols that want to take Your rightful place.  Help me to love You more today than the things of this world that vie for my attention and affection.  In Jesus’ holy name I pray, amen.