Be Done with Idolatry

"You shall have no other gods before me." - Exodus 20:3

 Whenever I read this scripture, I immediately dismiss it, thinking, "Got it. No problem with idolatry here." When I would read it, I would think of the gods in the Old Testament that people would worship. You know, like when the Hebrews worshipped the golden calf when Moses was trying to take them to the Promised Land? I used to think of idolatry as people who worshipped other fake gods instead of the one true God. 

However, idolatry isn't just the worship of other gods, such as Buddha or Allah.  

This is the definition of idolatry, according to Merriam-Webster:

           1. the worship of a physical object as a god

           2. immoderate attachment or devotion to something

This means then, that anything we put before God, is an idol. Anything that we can't stop meditating on is an idol. The Bible makes it very clear that idolatry is a sin, not just in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament as well. 

"Do not be idolaters..." - 1 Corinthians 10:7

"Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry." - 1 Corinthians 10:14

"Dear children, keep yourselves from idols." - 1 John 5:21

"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry." - Colossians 3:5

In today's culture, it is becoming more and more popular to have idols. We worship sports teams by spending the majority of our time and money on t-shirts, or bigger TVs so we can watch the games better. We worship video games by spending all of our free time playing them. We worship our stomachs by giving it the food it wants when it wants it. We worship our phones by carrying them around 24/7. We worship other people in our lives when we spend time with them but fail to spend alone time with God. We worship celebrities, movies, music, social media, drugs.... The list goes on. 

The problem with spending all of our time and energy on these things is that it leaves us empty. It just makes us want more. But we are never satisfied. Solomon had it right in Ecclesiastes 1:8, "Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are never content."

Sheesh, I wonder what Solomon would think of our world now, if he was saying that back then?  

More times than not, people who practice idolatry don't even realize they're doing it. After noticing others' idols, I realized I needed to ask myself, "Do I have any idols?" Sure enough, after doing some soul searching, I found that I did. I had to repent and ask God to help me. 

What about you? Do you have any idols? If so, I pray that God will help show you how to rid of them, and that you will begin to look to Him instead for joy and fulfillment. 

"We make a god out of whatever we find most joy in. So, find your joy in God, and be done with all idolatry." -John Piper