Daily devotion – Idolatry today
Exodus 20: 1 And God spoke all these words, saying:
2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
The modern believer of our day often gives no thought to idol worship. They simply think that such worship requires a statue or image of some form. But that is not the whole story!
The Bible teaches us that we are to serve God alone – Jesus said, Matthew 6: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
The Apostle Paul tells us in his letter to the Church in Ephesus that our relation to God is seen in the picture of marriage – Eph 5:32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Eph 5:33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
In a marriage faithfulness between husband and wife is a given. It is what is expected and right. But so too in our relationship with God there is to be no-one else or anything, passion or desire that is to be our first focus. Our first love is to be to our Lord.
Whatever our hearts cling to is our “god” and when we cling to anything or anyone other than God, we are guilty of idolatry and we breech the first Commandment.
God alone must be first in our heart and our life. Next, we are to avoid anything that excludes or obscures the divine nature of God. We are to honour His name and enter His presence with reverence and respect. We are to set aside our time regularly to worship Him.
Examine your life and your time – see what you give your life to in reality.
It must be Christ and Him first in everything!