ODJ: idols
June 21, 2010
You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea (Exodus 20:4).
READ: Deuteronomy 4:9-20
I knew of a young couple living in Togo, West Africa. As followers of Jesus, they occasionally encountered disapproval from family members who still practiced the old tribal rites.
One day the husband was tragically killed in a traffic accident. It was then that the clash between faith and tradition came to a head. At the funeral, the wife’s family urged her to take part in tribal ceremonies. It would “make her free,” they said. Despite the intense anguish of the moment, she courageously refused. Her decision was a simple, grace-filled statement to the community that Jesus was sufficient in her grief.
Having lived in the West for much of my life, I have seen how Western followers of Jesus tend to spiritualize these words from the apostle John: “Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts” (1 John 5:21). Another translation renders it this way: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (NIV). An idol is anything we adore or worship that turns us away from God. But John was writing to an audience that would understand this to be a literal idol—a physical representation of a false god. Millions still worship this kind of idol.
God feels so strongly about us not having representations of a false god, that he etched it in stone. “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind,” reads one of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:4). When we do “see” God in Scripture, He is elusive and mysterious: a flame; a gentle whisper; a voice thundering from heaven; a rushing wind; a helpless baby; the light that dispels the darkness.
It takes courage to live out your faith in Jesus in a culture that denies Him. But, by His strength, let’s continue to worship the God who transcends culture and defies description. —Tim Gustafson
What do I worship? What takes priority in my life over God?
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