October 25, 2018 - Idolatry, the worship of idols, one of the Ten Commandments of God says; "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God," (Deuteronomy 5:7-9) This is the very first of the Ten Commandments of God, for without upholding this the first, there is no need for one to try and keep the rest.
Just what is idolatry anyway? Simply put, it is putting anything before God, taking away from God; your time, your attention, your energy, devoting time that should have been given to God, time spent with God, to any other activity.
You may say; "Oh, I would never do that." Well, let me ask you, when you rise from bed each morning, do you spend your rising time with God, or, might you reach for your cell phone or computer or turn on the television first. The same when you go to bed at night, do you finish your day with the last prayer of the day, or, might you just check one more time with your computer or cell phone. Do you see how easy, without even thinking, it can be to develop an idol and put it before God?
God says this about idolatry; "And they shall return your lewdness upon you, and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and you shall know that I am the Lord God." (Ezekiel 23:49) A very stern warning from God about idol worship, it is not something to be taken lightly. God says it is lewd and sinful and that he will make you know that he, and he alone, is the true God.
Now don't get me wrong, I am not here to say that technology is evil or wicked, not at all. What I am saying is that improper use of anything can be. For too much of anything can pull one away from the Lord God.
Without technology I could not send out this devotional each morning, nor could we see and hear the many preachers who use the technological media to spread the gospel across the planet each day.
God gives us all things, it is up to us to use them properly, for his glory, and not to misuse them for lewd or sinful purposes.
We have a period of time in America which many call; "March Madness", a time of college basketball tournaments that is highly popular and in many cases, idolized by millions of people every day. Millions of dollars of productivity are lost because workers can't work for trying to watch or hear these ball games. It is the same in summer for baseball and in fall with football. Folks, this is idolatry, there is nothing wrong with the games, the problem is in the excessive attention given them.
Be very careful how you allocate your time each day. Enjoy your favorite things, just don't let them override your love for, or your time given, to the Lord God.
Paul said this about idolatry; "Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry." (1 Cor. 10:14)
The Apostle John said this; "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." (1 John 5:21)
Both of these apostles, who had spent several years actually walking and living with the Lord Jesus knew the dangers of idols and both plead with us to flee from them to keep ourselves from them.
Let us take heed to their words and be careful each day to give ourselves and our attention to the Lord. Amen...
