Do not mistake this title for suggesting that this blog is solely for the youth. We are all always God’s children. This is written to inform and remind everyone of the glories of God, and to edify through the truth.
1 John 5:21 “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.”
• So, what or who exactly are these “idols” we’re being warned about?
1 Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!
Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord, bless His name;
Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
3 Declare His glory among the nations,
His wonders among all peoples.
He is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
But the Lord made the heavens.
6 Honor and majesty are before Him;
Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
7 Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
Give to the Lord glory and strength.
8 Give to the Lord the glory due His name;
Bring an offering, and come into His courts.
9 Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!
Tremble before Him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns;
The world also is firmly established,
It shall not be moved;
He shall judge the peoples righteously.”
11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;
Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;
12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it.
Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice
13 before the Lord.
For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth.
He shall judge the world with righteousness,
And the peoples with His truth.
The passage of scripture above not only shares insight into the heart posture we should have for the Lord our God because of the righteousness, provider, and truth He is, but it also tells us that any god we may set up to look up to or allow to dictate us other than the God almighty Himself is an idol.
Jeremiah 14:22
“Are there any among the idols of the nations that can cause rain?
Or can the heavens give showers?
Are You not He, O Lord our God?
Therefore we will wait for You,
Since You have made all these.”
Have we been deceived to attribute any of the blessings we receive to anyone or anything in place of the Lord our God? Have we feared or worshiped them, or it, and now serve and give space for them (or it) to rule us in place of God? — How does this happen? It may be easier to ask instead, “What is idolatry?” If we have idolized anyone or thing it is the sin of idolatry. Idolatry sets up these idols or “replacement gods”/ anyone or thing we give the honor of commanding our heart over or away from God.
1st Corinthians 10: 7 & 14-16
7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”
14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
Anything can become an idol, if we desire it more than God.
Again, we worship God with reason! Yes, we should worship in Spirit and truth! We believe He is our creator, where all created good comes from, and that He is perfectly righteous, unlike us, fallen and in need of forgiveness, mercy, and justice which He has given through Christ our propitiation and savior.
We bless His name and flee idolatry because of this. Or we rebel in idolatry. Idolatry which can birth countless counterfeit gods and acts for them; all of this is inspired by the enemy, Satan who wants to be God rather than to belong to Him (so that he can be worshiped). The enemy, who scripture teaches is the false god of this world, has created witchcraft, mythologies, and more ideas to turn our hearts from God. The enemy delights in this covetousness because we create idols when we covet.
1 Samuel 15:23
“”For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
He also has rejected you from being king.””
Hosea 8:4
““They set up kings, but not by Me;
They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them.
From their silver and gold
They made idols for themselves—
That they might be cut off.”
The image for this blog is an artistic take of statues on greek mythology gods. God reminded me of the conceptualization of the “Seven Deadly Sins”: greed, pride, slothfulness, envy, gluttony, wrath, and lust; behaviors defined by God as sinful and warned against throughout scripture. However, the pursuit of wealth, power, security, beauty, health, and intimacy have been pedestaled not only in the “gods” pictured but the gods of other civilizations, or sought through kings, or established as the ruler of our hearts no matter our culture.
• Has God permitted us to submit to the pursuit of these things? Innocent passions can steal God’s place in our hearts. He has wanted to BE these things for us before we ever longed for them. He has wanted to be and provide and fulfill, not that we seek and search in vain or bitter desperation. Not that we hold selfish ambition, and strive for temporal treasure, but rather selflessly that He is the treasury.
Jeremiah 2:5
Thus says the Lord:
“What injustice have your fathers found in Me,
That they have gone far from Me,
Have followed idols,
And have become idolaters?
GLORY TO CHRIST THAT HE HAS REVEALED THESE THINGS! THAT HE IS THE TRUTH THE LIFE AND THE WAY AND CAN FREE US FROM ALL SINS, INCLUDING IDOLATRY!
Colossians 3: 1-5
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth:
fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry
Revelation 21:8
“”But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.””
Sin separates us from our holy God. We should know “The Ten Commandments” (which will be connected to the end of this blog) so that we can know righteousness and not be led astray.
Christ has laid down His life to be our mediator and light. He is the love of God that has fulfilled the perfect will of God and has called us now to walk in love, which is to walk in and with Him.
God delights in us asking Him for anything our heart desires. He delights to give us everything that is good for us. But He will not allow deadly sins and idols to be built in our hearts. God will definitely test our hearts for idols. These are moments where we can deny them and grow closer to Him. The enemy is also testing our hearts for God and our faith in Him. The enemy will constantly try to turn you from righteousness and obedient trust in God by sending temptations, which you can overcome and deny when you are empowered by the love of the Lord, having kept your heart from false idols.
(reference James 1)
Whenever you desire something, ask God for it, and then trust in His provision.
Enjoy God and ask Him for whatever you would enjoy, but then trust Him to provide when it is the perfect timing, if it is in His perfect purpose and will.
♥ God is working on a bigger-picture purpose in our lives and on the earth, just as He did through Christ’s. So be willing to lay down your desires, for the joy set before you, believing in God’s perfect plan despite what we may have to temporarily endure and sacrifice.
Being able to surrender His will to God, is how Christ kept His heart from idols and idolatry, and it is written to highlight how we can do the same. He has also taught us how to pray, displaying the right heart posture:
Matthew 26:39 “He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.””
Matthew 6:9-13
9 In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Of course, the flip side to submitting to God’s will would be forcing your own will in idolatry and so being carried off by Satan to break any of God’s commandments to obtain and maintain your idols.
If we choose the created things to worship rather than God, we also choose to bind ourselves to their will and beneath the ceiling of their power.
Isaiah 57: 13 “”When you cry out,
Let your collection of idols deliver you.
But the wind will carry them all away,
A breath will take them.
But he who puts his trust in Me [Yahweh] shall possess the land, And shall inherit My holy mountain.””
• Won’t the chosen choose the living God?
He has chosen you to know the love of Christ!
• Won’t He captivate the believer’s heart? Amen.
Here is set God’s will and standard for a final review:
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Leviticus 19
(NKJV Moral and Ceremonial Laws)
19 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
3 ‘Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.
4 ‘Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molded gods: I am the Lord your God.
5 ‘And if you offer a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, you shall offer it of your own free will. 6 It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and on the next day. And if any remains until the third day, it shall be burned in the fire. 7 And if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an abomination. It shall not be accepted. 8 Therefore everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the hallowed offering of the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from his people.
9 ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God.
11 ‘You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. 12 And you shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.
13 ‘You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning. 14 You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
15 ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. 16 You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people; nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.
17 ‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
19 ‘You shall keep My statutes. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind. You shall not sow your field with mixed seed. Nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you.
20 ‘Whoever lies carnally with a woman who is betrothed to a man as a concubine, and who has not at all been redeemed nor given her freedom, for this there shall be scourging; but they shall not be put to death, because she was not free. 21 And he shall bring his trespass offering to the Lord, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, a ram as a trespass offering. 22 The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the Lord for his sin which he has committed. And the sin which he has committed shall be forgiven him.
23 ‘When you come into the land, and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as uncircumcised. Three years it shall be as uncircumcised to you. It shall not be eaten. 24 But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, a praise to the Lord. 25 And in the fifth year you may eat its fruit, that it may yield to you its increase: I am the Lord your God.
26 ‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor shall you practice divination or soothsaying. 27 You shall not shave around the sides of your head, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard. 28 You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord.
29 ‘Do not prostitute your daughter, to cause her to be a harlot, lest the land fall into harlotry, and the land become full of wickedness.
30 ‘You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord.
31 ‘Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.
32 ‘You shall rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man, and fear your God: I am the Lord.
33 ‘And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. 34 The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
35 ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume. 36 You shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
37 ‘Therefore you shall observe all My statutes and all My judgments, and perform them: I am the Lord.’ ”
pay attention to the moral laws that are still direction to us in what is righteous and loving today. the ceremonial laws were only for these people to distinguish them from the surrounding foreign people.