Recognizing and Abolishing Idolatry
By: Kristen L. McNulty
Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.
Not long after becoming a Christian I decided that reading through the Bible would be a great idea, so I got one of those one year Bible reading plans and jumped into Genesis.
While reading the Old Testament especially my first time over, I couldn't help shaking my head after reading many of the stories. I couldn't understand the nation of Israel or the way they went about things.
I mean, here they are, God's chosen nation. Out of all the nations and tongues and tribes, He calls them His own. He paves the way for them to escape the chains of slavery in Egypt and start their own nation in the Promised Land.
He leads the nation through one miracle after another, from a Red Sea parting to the miraculous appearance of manna every morning. He guards them, protects them and loves them. When it comes to asking for something in return, His list of expectations are pretty short. One of them being found in Exodus:
"I am the LORD your God... You shall have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:2-3)
Sounds pretty simple, right? I mean here they are following the same God who led them out of Egypt and after seeing the incredible displays of His power and might, who else would they want to turn to?
A Long List Of Idols
As it turns out it's a pretty long list.
A golden calf that they built with their own two hands.
Astarte, the goddess of the Zidonians (1 Kings 11:5).
Baal, the supreme male god that complemented Astarte (Numbers 22:42).
Chemosh, the god of Moab and of Ammon (1 Kings 11:7, Judges 11:24).
Dagon, the god that the Philistines worshiped who they believed was partly man and partly fish (1 Samuel 5:2). Maybe that's where Hans Christian Anderson got his inspiration for the Little Mermaid from!
Molech, represented by a statue with its arms stretched out, ready to receive the children that were to be sacrificed to this god (Lev. 18:21) .
It seems like every time the Israelites came into contact with a new culture, they embraced the foreign gods as a part of their own religion. All after seeing with their own eyes the Lord defeat their enemies. All after tasting with their own mouths the manna that came down from heaven. All after feeling with their own toes the dry floor of the Red Sea beneath their feet.
It didn't matter how many things God did for them or how often He displayed His power, it wasn't enough to capture their attention or their whole-hearted worship.
Seeing Ourselves In The Story
While I have caught myself shaking my head at this many times, I also can see myself so very clearly in their story. My idol might not be called Dagon or I might have never carved something to bow to out of wood, but I bow down just the same. As O.S. Guinness once noted:
"Idolatry may not involve explicit denials of God’s existence or character... An idol can be a physical object, a property, a person, an activity, a role, an institution, a hope, an image, an idea, a pleasure, a hero, anything that can substitute for God."
So if we want to determine whether or not idolatry has taken root in our lives, we need to start looking at what in our lives is serving as a substituting for God?
Idolatry Is More Than A Carved Image
As we learn first from Jesus, and then again from the Apostle Paul, idolatry doesn't just involve foreign gods or things created with human hands. It involves anything that takes the place that should be occupied by God in our lives:
"No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other." (Luke 16:13)
"You must worship the Lord your God; serve only Him." (Matthew 4:10)
"So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust and evil desires. Don't be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshipping the things of this world." (Colossians 3:5)
The truth is God wants to have the number one spot in our lives, both in who we worship and in what we desire. Not number two and certainly not number ten. He wants to be considered Supreme and Lord above all else. And that's His rightful place, He's earned that spot on the throne:
"I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else. I will not share my praise with carved idols." (Isaiah 42:80)
But all too often in life we cast Him off the throne and replace Him with other things. While there is nothing wrong with those things in and of themselves, they become wrong for us when we give them a spot in our lives they should never have been elevated to.
Idols Blind Us
Idols blind us to the blessings that God has placed in front of us and they turn us into people who stumble around in the darkness, making one poor choice after another. The truth is, by placing our trust and hope in anything other than God, we're living a very foolish existence:
"The person who made the idol never stops to reflect, 'Why, it's just a block of wood! I burned half of it for heat and used it to bake my bread and roast my meat. How can the rest of it be a god? Should I bow down to worship a chunk of wood?' The poor deluded fool feeds on ashes. He is trusting something that can give him no help at all. Yet he cannot bring himself to ask, 'Is this thing, this idol that I'm holding in my hand, a lie?'" (Isaiah 44:18-20)
Trying to Fill The Void
Those are very powerful words, spoken to a nation who had constructed many idols and bowed to many different gods other than the Lord. They are also very powerful words for our society, one who has made a hobby out of bowing to any idol we can find that might fill the voids that flood our souls.
Our relationships.
Our possessions.
Our bank accounts.
Our status.
The image we portray on social media.
As Timothy Keller wrote in his book Counterfeit Gods:
"An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, 'If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.'"
We as Christians need to be evaluating our lives for idols and take the steps to get rid of them as soon as they are recognized. Because not only do they remove God from the throne in our lives, but they do change us.
A Reflection of Who or What We Worship
We are a reflection of who or what we worship. If your idol is money, it's going to be long before your life reeks of greed. If your idol is a degree, it's not going to be long before you start smelling of supremacy. If your idol is gaining recognition, you're going to be so twisted by insecurities that each ovation you get will never be enough.
The Lord our God needs to remain on the altar of our worship in our lives. He needs to occupy the altar alone, not sharing His Glory with another person and certainly not another object. His is more than worthy of our praise, adoration and worship. And in Him we find the only true and lasting source of contentment, joy, peace and strength. We won't get it from another person and we won't get it from another possession. We get it from Him and Him alone. So let's destroy the idols we make to try and occupy the space in our lives that should belong to God and God alone.
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