Idols

Exodus 34:17 “Do not make any idols.

God makes it so clear, countless times in the Bible, that we are not to worship things. Things - that is, things we can touch, smell, see, hear or taste. The problem is that we are designed by God to worship Him, and that makes us tend to want to worship. But if we are not very careful, we will begin to worship things instead of God.

Such a simple concept, and yet it has the power to change our eternity. And that's just not something we should be careless about. But are we as careful as we think we are? I have read in many places about the danger of taking something I have made with my own hands - out of wood, or stone - and setting it up as a god. Then worshiping it.

Here's one such passage from Deuteronomy 4:23 "Be careful not to forget the covenant of the LORD your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the LORD your God has forbidden. 24 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. 25 After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time--if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the LORD your God and provoking him to anger, 26 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed. 27 The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you. 28 There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell."

Sounds so silly, really. A person makes something with his or her own hands, and then bows down to worship it. But take away the idea that it is a little statue or shrine. In place of a golden 'idol' which comes to mind so easily, try to substitute any of the millions of things in our lives which we begin to worship if we are not careful. Things such as:
our reputation
our pride
our income
our job
our career
our education
our skills
our family
our home
our homelessness
our pain
our health
our fitness
our possessions
anything. Any thing.