“I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have any false gods before Me.”
Anything that is held above the LORD God is a false god or idol. We need to examine our lives to make sure we are not holding anything above the LORD God. (Exodus 20:3-6) To whom will you bow down? Will it be God, or will it be the devil? To whom do you show reverence and direct your worship? Before you can truly answer that, especially, if you call yourself a Christian then you need to know what a false God is. What and to whom do you give your mind and time? What or to whom do you think more of each day than God and what He says and thinks? Whom do you want to spend your time with or do?
Idol worship is not just a thing of the past (such as in the Bible), it is everywhere today. The things we have in our society today are just as bad as the things in the Bible that people worshipped way back then. You see, the things listed in the Bible are an example to show us what we should or should not do in our own life no matter what time period we live in.
Each thing in our life can be good, but if we go overboard with it then it is not a good thing for us or for our souls. We need to think about what really occupies our heart and mind more than God does. We then need to think are we making it an idol? Would God think it an idol in our life?
Idols in our culture today can be our cell phones, games we play, places we hang out, people we idolized (athletes, movie stars, or musicians, etc.) It can be food and constantly thinking about it, social media, the news (yes, the news), groups of people, politicians, drugs, alcohol, sex, and the list is endless. It is what we do with our time that can take something not an idol to making it an idol in our life. What and whom you give your time to more than you think and give your time to God can be an idol. Can anything you do that is, in God’s eyes, able to save your soul? What we do on this earth is important. We are in a spiritual war every moment of every day. If we place more importance on things and people than we do God then we are not honoring God but the very opposite. Things, people, and stuff don’t fill our soul. When we look for acceptance, love, and validation in the wrong places we might have a quick fix regarding something, but without God our soul is never satisfied…it only thinks it is for a season. It is God and God alone that fills the voids of our life but if we don’t make Him first in our life then we are really dishonoring Him.
It is time for all of us to take a hard look at our life and ask God what we need to be changing. We need to change the way we think, and we need to renew our mind. It doesn’t happen (always) overnight. We are each a work in progress. I am so very thankful that God is a God of second chances and He is filled with grace, mercy, and love for me/us. I thought on this subject today (and we should do it everyday if necessary). What am I giving my time to and does it do good? Does it honor God? Or does it take up my time in ways that puts anything above God. If I find something that does, then I need to go to God and ask Him to help me change it. A good example of this is how much time does one spend on their cell phone, playing games, or following people that they idolize? How much time each day are you doing something that God would think you dishonor Him?
God must be number one in our life. We can love so many people and things, but if God isn’t first we absolutely don’t have our priorities in order. God always deserves our love, our worship, our respect, and to submit to Him in everything. Following God isn’t hard to do for it is us that puts obstacles in our walk with Him.
Let us each today start to renew our mind, take care of our body, and stop feeding our soul with garbage. Let us focus each day on a personal relationship with God. We spend time with so many others and things that we push God away. Life can be hard for we live in a fallen world filled with things that should not take up our mind and life, but we can change our walk. How about each morning and each night spending time with God? The more you do it the more you will want to. Only you can make the choice to follow God for He never forces us to love Him. Our journey through this life is for us to learn right from wrong, good from evil, and what is really important. All of us (including me…of course) are on a lifelong journey. What we do with our dash is important (Dash is: your birth, your life, and your death) The dash is your life. What are you going to do with yours? Will you honor God by doing right, not making idols out of things or people, and will you choose to have a personal relationship with God? Only you gets to make that choice.
Think what you are doing, who you spend time with, where you go, what you watch and listen to…do they honor God? I would venture to say that all of us (me included) need to change something so that we no longer make someone or something an idol. Only God is worthy of our praise.