[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]
As a kid, when I heard Bible stories about idols I always thought of little golden statues that looked like animals or maybe animals with some human features. Since I didn’t have any of those mixed in with my stuffed animal collection, I figured I was probably good to go and the commandment about “You shall not have any other gods before me” was one I didn’t have to pay attention to. Even as I got older, the concept of idols wasn’t one I spent much time thinking about. Having idols was about praying to other gods, which I didn’t do, or getting too wrapped up in fancy possessions or an important job, which I didn’t have. Except eventually the idea got introduced that placing idols before God wasn’t just about loving the wrong things, but could be a matter of loving the right things in the wrong way.
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| Photo Credit: Tim Marshall |
In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul is writing the church at Corinth to warn them of ways they may be going astray without thinking they are. He recounts various ways the Israelites were examples of what not to do, reminding his readers that the Israelites got caught up in wanting to be like their neighbors. Their desire to be like the other nations led them to create a literal idol out of gold, to engage in sexual activities God had specifically forbidden, and to test whether God would stay true to his word.
While these exact sins may not be temptations for us, Paul goes on to say, “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:12-14)
So I wonder if the real problem of idols comes less from what our idols are and more from why we have them. In the case of the Israelites, they let idols creep in when they took their attention off what God wanted for them and let their own interests take center stage. They chose things that were fairly obviously bad choices, but not all idols are created out of bad things.
One of the difficulties of being human is our incapability to love perfectly. Anytime we love, we will eventually, in some way, warp that love into some shape it was never meant to be. We’ll love too much or too little, too early or too late, with too much force or with not enough. There will be glimmers of perfection, because love is a reflection of God, but at some point our love will go off-kilter. This is how we end up with idols we never thought could become idols. Good gifts like jobs, spouses, vacations, kids, friends, or even our desire for these good things, can become idols when we strive after them instead of striving after God. Even our devotion to God, our desire to serve him well by doing good works and learning truth, can become an idol if we get caught up in the actions and forget that our true goal is to long for God himself.
We’re not resigned to a life of worshiping the wrong things though. As Paul promised, God will provide a way out--and the way is himself. When we can recognize that we’ve shifted God from being the center of our lives and pushed him off to one side, we are never so far gone that we can’t ask him to realign our priorities so he is centered again. As we look at our lives, what are the areas where we’re tempted to let good things become the ultimate thing? How can we invite God to become the center of our life again and let everything fall into its good and proper place on the sides? And are we willing to make the make the choices and the changes it will take to get us there?
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