Idolatry

​Sam and I ate lunch recently with my Aunt B.J. in a Chinese restaurant.  Prominently displayed on a counter was a large brass Buddha.  That obese figure reminded me of the hundreds of millions of people who still worship inanimate man-made objects and live constantly in fear of offending evil spirits.  Imagine how God must feel!  He created us to fellowship with Him.  He made us with a spectacular relationship in mind and what happens—people reject Him for their own creations.  

Meditation
Habakkuk 2:18-19--What use is a carved idol after its craftsman carves it? It is only a cast image, a teacher of lies. For the one who crafts its shape trusts in it and makes idols that cannot speak. Woe to him who says to wood: Wake up! or to mute stone: Come alive! Can it teach? Look! It may be plated with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.
 
An idol is a false god; an image adored.  Idolatry constitutes excessive dedication to, or dependence upon, anything that replaces God.  When idols are defined as objects it is simple to spot them and bemoan anyone foolish enough to bow before them.  Perhaps that is why wealthy nations are so easily seduced by Satan.  We cannot see our idols or admit to our idolatry.

• Can work or self-dependence become idolatry?  If we believe our fate is dependent upon our work and that it is more important than anything else we do, than God has something to say to us.  “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast.  For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10).
• Can money become idolatry?  If we pursue it as essential, than God has something to say to us.  “You can’t be slaves to both God and money” (Luke 16:13b).  “For the love of money is a root  of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains” (1 Timothy 6:10).
• Can possessions become idolatry?   When they consume our attention Jesus has something to say to us.  “Don’t collect for yourselves treasureson earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal . . . For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
• Can another person cause idolatry?  If we depend upon anyone over our Savior, “The man who trusts in mankind, who makes human flesh his strength and turns his heart from the Lord is cursed” (Jeremiah 17:5).

​Let nothing steal our heart from God or devalue His throne!  He is jealous for our love.  After all He has done for us how do we dare not make Him first?  Our cause is not to emplace what will burn or embrace what cannot save or replace our preeminent Lord.  “Therefore, put to death what belongs to your worldly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.  Because of these, God’s wrath comes on the disobedient” (Colossians 3:5,6).   Our first cause is to love God!  King David sang it well, “How happy is the man who has put his trust in the Lord and has not turned to the proud or to those who run after lies!” (Psalm 40:4).
 
Inspiration
Idolatry is the outcome not of ignorance, but of perversity.—Oswald Chambers in Notes On Ezekiel
If I enthrone anything other than God in my life, God retires and lets the other god do what it can. The majority of us do not enthrone God, we enthrone common sense.  We make our decisions and then ask the real God to bless our god’s decision.  We say, “It is common sense to do this thing,” and God leaves us, because we are outside the frontier where He works.—Oswald Chambers in The Pilgrim’s Song Book
 
©2005 Daniel York  ARR. Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)