Idols

"For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: "

 ~Exodus 34:14~

"Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments."

~ Deuteronomy 5:8-10~

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."

~Deuteronomy 6:4-5~

"And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment."

~Mark 12:29-30~

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Idols aren't always an image set up for specific worship, idols can be things or people that you hold dear to your heart. If God is not the number one thing in your life then you have an idol in your life.



I wanted to write this post because I just felt the need. A few weeks ago I was reading in my quiet time, I think I was in James (since that is my book for the month of December). I am not really sure what verse I was reading or if it even had anything to do with idols. All I remember was I was sitting there and it was like all of the sudden God revealed to me that I had several idols in my life, many of them being people that were very close to me. It was at this moment that I just began weeping before my heavenly Father because of this great sin I had committed against Him.

Many of you know that I am a fairly "new" Christian (I was saved at the age of 19, I am now 23), but being raised in a Christian home it is easy to have the "knowledge" of the word, but not the "Spirit". I "know" many things about the word and could even give you good advice and expound on many passages. But even Paul tells us in Romans 7 that "knowing" and "doing" are two different things and so many times it is very hard to get the "doing" part into gear.

God showed me that evening that I had set several close people in my life up before Him, and that I needed to return them to their place of second in my life. Only He can be at first place, and if He is not then How can I love, live, or breathe for Him?

 He also showed me that I had already set up a man that I do not even know as an idol, you see I had come to idolize the man I was to marry. I have no idea who that is, but I had set him up as an idol. I thought that I would marry a perfect man, that He would be a spiritual pillar of some sort.

Now before you think I have lowered my standards let me explain. I want my man to be Godly, mature, and always put Christ first in his life. But, I cannot expect him to be my Saviour or my Jesus. Only Christ can fill that position and He already has.

So before I ever marry anyone, or even think of it I want to make sure Jesus is in fact the number one in my life. Otherwise I have already set someone up to disappoint me and that is not fair at all.  

You see, when we set people up on a pedestal we set them up for failure. We are expecting perfection out of a sinner, how wrong is that?

Personally, I have set many people up for failure because I idolized them. I had to apologize to them and ask God to forgive me as well. He had to finally show me that He is the ONLY PERFECT thing in my life. All others are sinners like me and I am the worst of the lot.

Make sure that you do not have idols in your life, because many times you may raise someone above God and not even realize it at first. But, if we stay in the word, keep our minds immersed in the scripture (by memorization and transcribing) and pray, then God will I believe, always be first and foremost in our lives.

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you."

~Phillipians 4:6-9~