Modern Idolatry

In Second Grade, the highlight of the week was Wednesday when the retired Senior Pastor would teach Old Testament Bible class.  He was gentle story teller who wove pictures and told tales that came alive in our imaginations.  We cheered the victories of the heroes and hung our heads in shame at their failures.  His stories about the Patriarchs, Moses, the Judges, and the Kings were fascinating.

The Old Testament is full of heroes and miracles but it is also full of idol worship.  Idol worship is strange to the modern mind, it seems silly.  As a kid, I always thought that I would never fall victim to all of the sins of the Israelites.  I mean who bows down to a cow statue, right?  I thought idolatry was dead, but is it?

Idol Worship - Then and Now

Idolatry is anything you love more than you should, where you devote your passion, your time, your money, and your thoughts.  Often your devotion will become part of who you are, your defining characteristic and part of how other people describe you.  Think about it for a second, what is the first adjective that comes out of someone's mouth describing your character?  Do they say: "He's an Executive", she's a "Sports Mom" or "She's in great shape"?  How do you describe yourself?  Be honest, what's the first adjective that you use?  How are you defining yourself?.

Now take it even deeper, what do you love?  Do you love your company, your work, your team, your children, your body?  Do you love them more than God?  Do you chose that activity over attending regular worship?  Will you drag yourself out of a sick bed to go to a game but pull the covers over your head for church?  Are you spending evenings reviewing spread sheets and reports but haven't picked up your Bible in years?  Will you drive two hours for a business appointment but not set aside a lunch hour a month to go to a men's Bible Study? Will you drive your exhausted children to football practice four days a week but let them sleep in on Sunday?

Where are your priorities?  Because, my Friends, I will tell you idolatry is not dead, it just wears a new face.  It has a business suit, a yoga bra. or a sports jersey, it might even be looking back at you from that selfie.  Is it in your children, who you try to give a perfect life free of the pain and failure you experienced as a kid?

The first two commandments state, you shall have no other God's before me and you shall not worship idols.  My friends, we are a nation that puts money, business, ourselves and sports above God.  We worship at the alter of the Dow Jones and fret over every jobs report.  We ecstatically worship in arenas, stadiums, and high school football bleachers and turn our noses up in disdain if the person beside us in church lifts their hand in worship and praise.  We care for our bodies in such a way that we are afraid to eat Salmon that has swum by a Salmon farm for fear of contamination.  We have become shallow, lame, and utterly boring in our inward focus and our worldly worship.

Sports Worship

We are a world of idolaters who thumb our noses at the Most High God.  We are a world ripe for judgement.  We are a world of scoffers and idolaters.  God will not be mocked, HE will not stand idly by forever.  Our world has been under a series of judgments for decades and they have escalated since 9/11.  I truly believe a third major judgement will soon befall this world soon if we do not repent and turn back to God.
We can not as individuals control the disintegration of this present darkness but we can change our own hears, we can change our families.  I implore you to look inside, look deeply inside, judge yourself harshly, judge yourself by the standard of perfection - look upon your life, repent, and change.  Ask God to be merciful to you and to your Nation.  Ask for His healing, return to Him.  He loves you, He'll take you back.