Think about your favorite athlete, TV personality, or celebrity. It could be a Super Bowl winning quarterback, a player with an enviable work ethic, or someone with success and popularity beyond our wildest dreams. Think about what it would be like to hang out with someone like this. Now ask yourself, "Do I tend to idolize individuals like this or put them on a pedestal?"
It's fine and good to have role models and to appreciate someone's talent and work ethic. But there is a difference between appreciation and worship. How do these athletes and celebrities compare to God? Does he value them more because of their name or position? Remember that God is the only one deserving of our worship and we need to ask Him to remove any idols from our lives.
Most church people would scoff at the notion that they have an idol. But how does it start? Where does it go? And what are the consequences? Let's see how this played out for the Israelites in Exodus 32.
When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." So Aaron told them to take off all of their gold rings and bring them to him. And the people happily did so. Then Aaron took all of this and made a golden calf. The people proclaimed, "These are our gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" Then Aaron built an altar saying, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord." The next day the people brought burnt offerings and peace offerings and sat down to eat, drink, and play. (Exodus 32:1-6)
Moses was on the mountain receiving instruction from God. Now we all know that God's timing is rarely the same as our timing. So Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain. Look at the lack of compassion and how quickly the people moved on from their leader and forgot all of the great things he had led them through. They appear concerned saying, "we don't know what has become of him," but they also become impatient and restless without going out in searching for Moses either.
How could the Israelites turn from God and his prophet Moses so quickly? Simple. They feared that Moses would not return and they could not see God. But we are all designed as worshippers - we want to worship somebody or something. In their weakness, they needed something to bow down to, something to praise in the seeming absence of their leader and God. Yet by this action, they were so clearly violating God's second commandment.
The people quickly gathered around Aaron asking him to make gods that they could worship who would go before them. They even used the very gold rings that God was instructing Moses in how to use in the building of the tabernacle to construct an idol. It was no mere coincidence that the Israelites chose a golden calf. Cows had been worshipped as the Egyptian's creator god. The people had gotten out of Egypt, but Egypt had not gotten out of them.
How could this have happened? How was their faith in God who had just miraculously saved them so weak that they fell away this quickly? Sadly, the truth of the matter is for even for us today our hearts are still prone to idolatry. No, you probably won't see anyone bowing down to a golden calf. But how often do we allow other things (work, sports), people (spouses, kids), power (popularity, acceptance) to become the pursuits of our effort? Anytime that something becomes more valuable to us than God, we are guilty of idolatry. The first step of idolatry is shifting our primary focus away from God and towards anything else.
Lord,
Help me today to stay focused on You, to remove any distractions from my life that hinder my worship and service that You would have me to do. Amen.
It's fine and good to have role models and to appreciate someone's talent and work ethic. But there is a difference between appreciation and worship. How do these athletes and celebrities compare to God? Does he value them more because of their name or position? Remember that God is the only one deserving of our worship and we need to ask Him to remove any idols from our lives.
Most church people would scoff at the notion that they have an idol. But how does it start? Where does it go? And what are the consequences? Let's see how this played out for the Israelites in Exodus 32.
When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." So Aaron told them to take off all of their gold rings and bring them to him. And the people happily did so. Then Aaron took all of this and made a golden calf. The people proclaimed, "These are our gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" Then Aaron built an altar saying, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord." The next day the people brought burnt offerings and peace offerings and sat down to eat, drink, and play. (Exodus 32:1-6)
Moses was on the mountain receiving instruction from God. Now we all know that God's timing is rarely the same as our timing. So Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain. Look at the lack of compassion and how quickly the people moved on from their leader and forgot all of the great things he had led them through. They appear concerned saying, "we don't know what has become of him," but they also become impatient and restless without going out in searching for Moses either.
How could the Israelites turn from God and his prophet Moses so quickly? Simple. They feared that Moses would not return and they could not see God. But we are all designed as worshippers - we want to worship somebody or something. In their weakness, they needed something to bow down to, something to praise in the seeming absence of their leader and God. Yet by this action, they were so clearly violating God's second commandment.
The people quickly gathered around Aaron asking him to make gods that they could worship who would go before them. They even used the very gold rings that God was instructing Moses in how to use in the building of the tabernacle to construct an idol. It was no mere coincidence that the Israelites chose a golden calf. Cows had been worshipped as the Egyptian's creator god. The people had gotten out of Egypt, but Egypt had not gotten out of them.
How could this have happened? How was their faith in God who had just miraculously saved them so weak that they fell away this quickly? Sadly, the truth of the matter is for even for us today our hearts are still prone to idolatry. No, you probably won't see anyone bowing down to a golden calf. But how often do we allow other things (work, sports), people (spouses, kids), power (popularity, acceptance) to become the pursuits of our effort? Anytime that something becomes more valuable to us than God, we are guilty of idolatry. The first step of idolatry is shifting our primary focus away from God and towards anything else.
Lord,
Help me today to stay focused on You, to remove any distractions from my life that hinder my worship and service that You would have me to do. Amen.
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