For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images. 2 Chronicles 34:3
When we read in the Bible about the people of Israel worshiping idols made of wood, stone, and metal it seems crazy to us today. The idea of bowing down to and making sacrifices to stone, wood, and metal images is insane. In fact, if someone were found in a public park that had a statue and that person was worshiping the statue they would be taken away to have their head examined.
“Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman? Or an image that teaches lies? For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. Habakkuk 2:18
Yet we have as many idols today, if not more, than the people of long ago who made their own gods from materials available to them. Everything from celebrities to houses and cars and people and pets are the focus of worship for those who are trying to fill the “God Vacuum” we are all born with. We were destined to worship the One True God, but those who resist Him, instead use many other things to fill that void in their lives.
For those who have not experienced the peace, love, and joy that comes from knowing their Maker, they too often turn to drugs, alcohol, and pleasures of all sorts as substitutions for the spiritual blessings only known to the believer. We must turn to the Fruit of the Spirit instead of the Spirit of the Fruit (Gal. 5:22-23).
While it is true that sometimes Christians also lose their way and their focus upon God becoming prey to the world’s artificial religious substitutes, it is primarily the godless who create and find new gods to worship.
Some take pride in the fact that they worship no god/s and that they are “free” of such superstitious things. Yet their very pride and arrogance are idols they set up as arguments and philosophies that oppose the idea of God. Their new religion of an Agnostic or Atheistic stance wrapped up in pride is a wall that they believe will protect them from any responsibility of action and reaction in their lives. But the god of pride will fail them as surely as the other gods and idols people put in place of the God and Maker of us all. Now they deny the God who made them. And one day God will deny them.
When I am outdoors, looking at an azure sky filled with beautiful billowy clouds, or looking into the starry heavens at night, or any other lovely thing God has made, I often wonder how anyone can go through this life thinking these things “magically” appeared on their own. How could anyone think the creation simply arrived by chance? When I see a beautiful work of art it makes me wonder who the artist might be. It is the same when looking at God’s artwork through His Creation.
since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. Romans 1:19-20
Despite the gods or ideologies you have chosen in this life, one day your life will end. You will no longer be able to deny the God you will stand before at that time. God reveals Himself in many ways all around you today if you will only resist the gods of this world and its foolish ideologies. Don’t wait until it is too late to recognize the God whose fingerprints are on every created thing, including yourself.
And you are a believer, never make the mistake of worshiping the creation instead of its Creator, and never get sidetracked by idols.
Prayer: Dear Lord, open the eyes of the spiritually blind, and help Your children to remain spiritually alert, always resisting the gods of this world and the foolish ideologies that surround us. Amen.
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