Greetings everyone! Trust you are all doing well. Welcome to my blog. Join me as we take close look at an insightful topic titled idolatry
Exodus 20:3-4.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Many at times, we see worshipping idols as lying or prostrating at the front of a carved object or a deity as a form of idol worshipping.
When we people doing this, what drops into the mind is that such is an idol worshipper. This is true and I must say that we still have people who indulge in this act of worshipping idols. However, an Idol in its broader sense is quite deeper than what we sometimes take it to be.
EXODUS 20:3.
This commandment as most of us would think we never can break is higher than even the sense of it.
An idol is anything! I repeat, Anything that takes the place of God in our lives. Like I said, it could be anything ranging from object, philosophy, occupation, celebrity, habit, family, ministry e.t.c. Funny as this may sound, an Idol can also be ourselves.
If we claim to love God, then nothing should come before him in our lives. Not even the thing we hold dear with our heart. I will like us to take a few example of idols and possibly we can see that some of us who claims to be God's lover had been prioritizing something else.
Idol of one's self.
A lot has been flying around as touching this particular topic. I see motivational speakers trying to encourage their esteemed listeners to always ensure that they see themselves as an idol by making sure that their life should come first in all they do irrespective of what the norm of an organization or society is. As innocent as this statement sounds, many have hijacked it and ensure that they esteem themselves high enough that even what others might feel has no meaning to how they see themselves. Everybody is now after how they can improve their status quo at the expense of their walk with God.
The God of oneself should be eradicated from our lives if we really want to do business with God. If you actually want to walk with God, then you should erase everything that has to do with your self. It must be about him and him alone. After all, you were created for his pleasure. If you want to please him, then you must do it in his own way. Some people practically worship themselves. They ensure that they come first in all they do. It is always about ME, MYSELF AND I
This particular set of idol worshippers simply feel that the world revolves round them. They will sometimes tend to love God not because they actually want to make him come first in their lives, but because they just want to get the best out of life. I am not saying we shouldn't get the best out of life (That's not the point). What is even life outside the very one who created it. The point is, you are an idol worshipper if all you want is success even at the expense of your faith. The god of one's self is so strong that the one indulging in this act can use anything to achieve this aim. This set of people are very easy to spot. You will always hear them say "it is all about the money". You will sometimes hear them say "It's not about God, let's do away with God for now". The point is that it's not about You! It's about God!
This is what you must understand even as you walk with him. Your pursuit in life is all about God. Anything short of this as a result of yourself is IDOLATRY
John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
When you come into this great communion with him, you begin to see reasons to deny yourself even more. He begins to show you how you must ensure that you keep decreasing so that he can increase. Always look out for this god. When it comes so as to give you a point of attraction, then you should know that it's not about yourself, it's about him. You cannot claim to love God when you prioritize other things before God. You cannot love God this way when you only see him as an avenue to achieve your selfish and lustful desire. Once you begin to sense that you now prioritize how to get the best out of life at the expense of your walk with him, then you are not different from an Idol worshipper. When you take a close look at the bible and you observe those that prioritizes God, you will come to conclude that it is all about the creator and not even the creature. Jesus laid an example of how to be free from this god of one's self. At a time, he said, how I wish this cup should pass me by, it's not in accordance to my will anyway. nevertheless, let your will be done It doesn't matter how I feel things should be done, it doesn't matter if I had attained or not, all that matters is that your will be done.
Matthew 26:39 And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
This god is so powerful that it can also influence how you pray. If one does not handle it well by saying NO to this Idol, it will begin to influence even how we relate with other people. When take a critical look into the Lord's prayer, you will see that as much as we are helped on how to pray, we see that it's about God and his kingdom finding expression in our life as well as the entire earth as a whole.
The god of pleasure.
These set of idolaters worship this god because of the pleasure and enjoyment it has to offer at the expense of the commandment of God. They worship things that are sensual and appealing to their sense and flesh. It could be sexual, it could be the love for a celebrity. The pleasure this world offers can entangle one if care is not taken. This god has a way of catching and drawing one's attention in such a way that once you get the pleasure, then you tend not to derive satisfaction until you develop an unholy appetite for it. I am not saying we shouldn't do what might profit us in a sense. But hey! The point is, don't get yourself entangled in it in such a way that it becomes a way of deriving pleasure even at the expense of your walk with God. There was a time that I so much love a man of God that I almost forgot the fact that I needed to love God more as the spirit leads me and not as the verdict of the man of God. See! I forgot the place of guidance in so much that I became his fan and not aligning to what God has for me. That is what this god is capable of doing. It can even use the very thing you think could mean nothing. It can make you worship even the ministry god has called you into. Hence, God should be your Focus.
The god of possession.
This god is so terrible that it can drives you all through life. It is so strong that it can make you see this world as what is worth dying for.
Job 31:24-28.
If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; 25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much; 26 If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; 27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: 28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.
There is absolutely nothing worth dying for in this world. This world will pass away and the lust therein.
1 John 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
If what you intend to live your life for is MONEY, then you are not different from an idolater. Your case is even worse. If what drives you is how to acquire property and possession, then you are not better off an idol worshipper. All this thing will pass away. If the said time comes and the world passes away as well as the lust there in, and your life is examined, if peradventure it is found in the constituent of your life the lust of this world, then you will sure pass away. God will never have anything to do with the one who prioritizes the entanglement of this world. He would only establish the one who lived his life for his own(God's) Will and not his(personal will).
The root of idolatry is a matter of the heart. The operation is to take your focus from God which is above to things that are beneath (things that would pass away with this world).
Most times, it is easy to make an Idol out of a person God has used in our lives, or sometimes, it could be out of spiritual tradition. Most times, your passion and career could be an idol.
When you look at the life of Paul, you will see a man that has been helped by God even as much as he cooperated with the dealings of God. Paul was a man who will never see his achievements as something he need to dwell on. He would not even make mention of it. At a point in Philippians he said he counted everything he once held dear as dung. He is an example of a man who lived his entire life in accordance to the will of God. God's will is the that we all attain the level of Christ. This should be our Focus. This should be what drives us everyday of our lives.
Philippians 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
As devastating as the worship of an idol is, an idol worshipper can even worship god and think he is worshipping God.
When Aaron built an altar, his thought out of improvising was that it is a representation of God. They rationalized their action saying that the golden image represents God. They went as far as proclaiming the day of the Lord.
Exodus 32:4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.
God does not want us to hold anything in our heart in our worship of him. As a believer, you need no image to represent the Lord who you claim to serve. God detest this act and he doesn't want you to prioritize anything not even yourself.
In conclusion.
A man will definitely become like the thing he worships. If he puts anything in the place of God, he will become that very thing. After all, what does it means to become a Christian? It means you are to attain the measure and fullness of the stature of Christ. For this single reason, He wouldn't want you to cling to anything false. He is the Truth.
YOUR FOCUS IS CHRIST
Remember.
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.
REMAIN BLESSED LIKE YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN.
#goldencenser.
#spirituality.
Shalom!