Modern-Day Worshiping Of False Idols
“While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:16-31) Our idols are a bit different than what Paul was talking about in Athens.
What am I talking about when I say “idols”? Not the humanly made images of other religion’s god or even our hand crafted images of God and Jesus Christ; those are for another day. Today I am talking about anything that you allow to take first place in your life instead of the true and living God. Idols such as overindulgence of: tobacco, drugs, alcohol, hobbies, cars, email, social networks, success, friends, music, wealth, appearance, video games, books, sports, clothes, food, collections, too involved with boy/girlfriend etc. Anything turing too much of your attention away from God and onto itself are false idols. God is gradually pushed out of our lives because they are more important to you than He is. These are things that Satan uses to lure us away from God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
“As a thief is disgraced when he is caught, so the people of Israel are disgraced— they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets. They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’ Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns. “Why do you bring charges against me? You have all rebelled against me,” declares the LORD. “In vain I punished your people; they did not respond to correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a ravenous lion. “You of this generation, consider the word of the LORD: “Have I been a desert to Israel or a land of great darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to you no more’? Does a young woman forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number. How skilled you are at pursuing love! Even the worst of women can learn from your ways. On your clothes is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor, though you did not catch them breaking in. Yet in spite of all this you say, ‘I am innocent; he is not angry with me.’ But I will pass judgment on you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ Why do you go about so much, changing your ways? You will be disappointed by Egypt as you were by Assyria. You will also leave that place with your hands on your head, for the LORD has rejected those you trust; you will not be helped by them.” (Jeremiah 2:26-37) Jeremiah told the people who were in trouble to get help in the hour of death from those idols they had worshiped. God may ask us the same question of when we seek Him in our times of trouble. Do not put God on the back-burner until we really need Him. God offers hope and help to those who have learned to depend on Him ALL the time. He should be at the very center of our lives.
Do we just give God a passing thought each day, if that? Do we just go to church only once a week?There is nothing wrong with most of those things I mentioned above (with the exception of tobacco, drugs, and alcohol) if you enjoy them in moderation and put God before them. “Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” (Luke12:15) We need to keep our gifts and goals in their proper perspective.
Focus on God and obey His principles. It does not mean you can not have a major love of anything in your life. It just means that God should come first. Really want to seek God. We should want to know and understand who and what He is. We should study his word. We can enjoy things without guilt as long as God remains our top priority. God should come first in our lives. It takes a lot of hard work and commitment to do that. Ask God to give you strength to overcome the temptations of idolatry in our lives.
Read also: Deuteronomy 9:11-17; Deuteronomy 17:14-15; 1 Kings 11:1-13; Exodus 32; Nehemiah 2:20; Isaiah 2:12-18; Matthew 6:24
