Idolatry: January 10, 2013

TODAYS WORD FOR THURSDAY JANUARY 10, 2013.

IDOLATRY

DEFINITION:

The worship of idols; a person or thing adored or revered.

SCRIPTURE:

You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. I Thessalonians 1:9b

"And this is eternal life that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." John 17:3

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

It is important for us to understand that when we talk about the word idols we understand what it means. Most people think of idols as a statue or figurine representing a god and idolatry as worshipping of an idol as god. But it goes much farther than that. The "things and people" in your life can become idols when they are more important to you than your relationship with the living God. The great concern that we have is that the majority of the people in this world have their idols that come before God. To know and follow God requires getting rid of whatever gets in the way of worshipping Him.

If you were to ask people if they believed in God, the majority would probably answer "Yes." If you were to ask what they considered most important in their life, their answer, would not be God but, most likely, money, fame, power or pleasure.

Many people create their own god. A report in the magazine NEWSWEEK said that a youth pastor asked teenagers "who they think God is?" One said that "He was like a grandfather. He is there but I never see Him". Another said, "He is an evil being who wants to punish me all the time." The report went on to say that most people form their own gods in life. What consumes one's time becomes one's god. The more time we devote to what has become a “god” in our lives, the more it controls our thoughts and consumes our energy.

In the two verses we have printed above, Paul and John remind us that as believers we have turned to God from the idols of life when we accepted Jesus as our Savior. They also remind us that the only true God, Jesus Christ our Savior, is the one that provides us eternal life in heaven.

Creating one's own deity today is common place but the god's we create have no lasting value. It is extremely dangerous because it robs a person of knowing who their heavenly Father really is. God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, holy, just and unchangeable and He is waiting for us to establish a relationship with Him and make Him the one and only God in our life.

Idol worship has been prevalent down through the centuries and throughout the world. During the time that the Israelites were in Egypt, the Egyptians had many gods. Each god represented a different aspect of life. They worshipped many gods to get more blessings. The Pharaoh (AKHENATEN) pointed to the rising and setting sun as the great deity who gave life to earth. The religious symbol for him was a single disc of light with sunrays coming from the sun. This was his god but not the true God. Moses warned the Israelites to only worship the one and only God and not the god of Pharaoh. The first of the Ten Commandments God gave Moses was, “You shall have no other gods before me.”

When Paul came to Athens he saw all their objects of worship. The Athenians built beautiful temples to their gods. The remains of those temples can still be seen today. We have been there and have seen them. Paul was grieved by the idolatry in that city. They had the concept that there must be a higher power. Paul used the people's imperfect understanding of God to point them to the one and only true God of scripture.

In Acts 17:24 Paul wrote, "God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands." He wanted them to see that the one true God is greater than all their worthless idols they had built temples for.

The people around us may worship a god that they have invented for their life. We must make sure that we have a daily relationship with the one and only true God and His Son Jesus. Then we should reach out to those who have chosen their own idols they worship and through our words and deeds show them that there is only one God, the living and eternal God who is the God of all creation and the God of salvation.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Genesis 1:1.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

PRAYER:

Keep me from allowing anything to become more important in my life than You. Keep me away from the "things and people" that could become idols and would hinder my relationship with You. Keep me steadfast in my faith and give me the desire to serve You.