WATCHWORD:
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, that made jealous God, punishing their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me. Exodus 20:4-5
Meditation:
Idol Clarification
Back in the days when I was doing value clarification workshops, I had the participants list those things they valued the most. Then I asked them to put a check mark by the items that they do or participated in every day. Then, through the course of the workshop we did a series of exercises, including more list-making – how we spend our time, what we spend our money on, what do we worry about, and finally, what we prize most highly.
Then I led them through a series of comparisons between the various lists, making connections with some items, while discarding others. In the end, what emerged were items we highly cherish, or valued. The result being the values that we cherish were the ones we spent time on, were the ones we spent money on, were the ones we worried about. These were not necessarily the ones we had placed on the first list of things we valued. Maybe what we have done is simply to reveal our idols. Now, what do you do with them?
Our God is a jealous God. He asks us to worship only him. And yet, do we put Him first? I believe that we have erected idols that we lift up with greater frequency than we pray or worship the Lord. People, possessions, status, pride, these, and many others are popular idols that we erect in our lives today. Do we bow down before these, knowing that such false gods never satisfy? In fact, those idols stir up within us distractions that take us away from the worship of our Lord.
In a recent Jesus Calling devotional, Sarah Young represents the Lord when she writes “When you seek me instead of the world’s idols, you will experience my joy and peace. These intangibles satisfy the thirst of our souls, providing deep satisfaction.”
What the world offers is false and temporary. What our Lord offers is permanent and eternal. The light of God’s presence is brilliant, the walk in His light is a beacon, reflecting through us to others who, in turn, are drawn to Him.
Our walk as believers in Christ always brings us to choice points, where we must choose. Even though the choice seems obvious it is often hard, requiring us to turn our backs on the comfortable and the counterfeit idols we have embraced. We must choose.
Prayer of Repentance:
Precious Heavenly Father, help us to recognize the meaninglessness of many things that we seem to cherish in our lives, above our love for You. Instill in our lives Heavenly Father an awareness of Your presence, open us to understanding the direction of your will and lead us away from false worship. Bring us, Lord, into your presence, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts and minds by the inspiration of your Holy Word, and show us the way to the joy of your presence. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
