"Thou shalt have no other gods before me"
Exodus 20:3
When it comes to the Ten Commandments and the idea of sin, I think for most of us we don’t necessarily worry too much about the whole false gods/idols thing, right? I mean, no one in this day and age (besides a few pop artists trying too hard to be edgy) is pulling out a golden calf like the Israelites did in the Old Testament. If you grew up going to church, you probably heard this extrapolated further to the idea of “Anything you place above God, can be an idol! Your Xbox can be an idol, your favorite sports team, your job, they can all be idols!” and that’s true, but again, I can’t really think of a time where I would honestly say I would choose the Georgia Bulldogs over Jesus, even when we won back to back National Championships. If I’m honest, I’ve often felt like idolatry wasn’t necessarily one of the things we really needed to look out for as much as things like lust or coveting, which seem much more like potential daily struggles. I was wrong.
What I found recently while reading through Exodus, was a game-changer, and it’s only a few chapters after Moses receives the Ten Commandments. While he is STILL on the mountain talking to God, the Israelites make a golden calf, a false god. And no that’s not the thing, I knew that. I mean, if you’ve seen any movie about Moses, there’s always a scene where Moses comes down and sees the people worshiping their idol and then goes absolutely mental on them. What I hadn’t noticed was what it says in Exodus 32:6. “...then the people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play [shamefully – without moral restraint.”- Exodus 32:6 (AMP) Do you see it? The idol wasn’t just some archaic golden calf they put out and worshiped; the minute it was introduced to their lives, their behavior changed, and they began to live counter to a Godly lifestyle, without moral restraint. And it got me thinking, what if we’ve been missing it? What, if anything that causes me to behave counter to God’s word, THAT THING, is an idol?
So here’s the hard part - here’s the part I’ve been chewing on, which has forced me to check myself just a little harder these days. If my dedication to my political party causes me to “roast” the people across the aisle, laugh with my friends about how they got “owned” in a video, and belittle people made in the image of God? My political party has become an idol. If my self-perceived victimhood causes me to be so angry all the time that I treat my family poorly? My misguided sense of justice is an idol. If my desire to make people laugh causes me to make a joke that dishonors God? My sense of humor is an idol. If my attachment to my relationship causes me to sacrifice purity in order to maintain it? My relationship is an idol. If my love of my sports team causes me to be a jerk towards people over something as small as what jersey they wear? My favorite team is an idol. If my desire to be liked causes me to behave counter to God’s word, so that people will like me? My ego is an idol. If my favorite song causes me to drop a few words I usually wouldn’t, for the sake of singing along? My music is an idol. Fill in your blank, because if we’re honest, too often there are small things that are not inherently bad, that we overlook entirely, that are placing idols in our hearts and minds, and even further, in our behavior. It’s what we’re prone to, but we have to turn away from it. I grew up hearing a statement about idle minds, and I think it goes both ways. An idol mind? Yeah, I think that might be the devil’s true playground. So friends, let’s keep the main thing, the main thing, because there’s only one God, and His way is better.
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