Sunday, August 21, 2016

Does Modern Man Have a Problem with Idol Worship?

    

When we hear the word idol or idol worship we tend to imagine some distant remote island, isolated from the world or some primitive culture from the year 653 BC.  Natives dressed in coverings made from plants are bowing down to some statue while chanting. While this type of scenario would qualify as idol worship, it is far from the only thing that qualifies.  In the year 2016, in first world countries, this type of idol worship is becoming more rare.  Defining idol worship narrowly like this misses the point of this commandment.

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

The next verse does go on to talk about not making images (statues) to worship instead of God. Verse 4 and verse 3 do overlap, but I don't think they are identical. We can treat anything in our lives like a god and if we put that thing before the one true God then we are partaking in idol worship.

A better way to define idol worship for the modern man would be to say: If we allow anything in our lives to displace God, then we are committing idol worship.  In other words, if anyone who claims to follow God/Jesus puts something in the place (highest priority) that God rightfully deserves, then you have displaced God by something that you could accurate describe as an idol.

We are all sinners and most of us are guilty of this sin for a period of time.  Our goal should be to commit ourselves to avoiding this situation daily. Only by keeping God is the forefront or our mind, by mediating on his word daily, can we hope to avoid this common pitfall.

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