Why are humans so susceptible to idolatry? I think it is because anything or anyone that we make into an idol--notice that word "we"--is something that we--there's that word again--put there. The flesh loves self-gratification. If I am the kingmaker of whoever or whatever is king in my life that isn't God, then isn't that ultimately an elevation of self? I am a big pro wrestling fan. I have been since I was seven years old. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it was my idol growing up. Any money I got, that's what I spent it on, whether pay-per-views, videos, wrestling figures, or anything else wrestling-related. With all of my spare time, I was either playing with those wrestling figures or watching those videos. I even remember passing up a trip to Kings Island in 1996 so I wouldn't miss the weekend leadup to Summerslam that year. Mind you, I wouldn't be missing the big pay-per-view event itself, just the weekend countdown stuff, which I also recorded along with the events themselves. The number of facts, dates, title reigns, number of title reigns, length of title reigns, who defeated who when, and how still surprises a lot of people. To this day, I am still a big wrestling fan as I said. But it is no longer first in my life because Jesus is. It is no longer an idol, but it was for a long time. Again, anything or anyone you put first in your life that isn't God is an idol. That's why the first two of the 10 Commandments were so inextricably linked. If you have no other gods before God, then you have no idols. If you have an idol--something other than God that you have put first in your life--that is your god.
Before I was saved, I didn't really have a concept of God. I didn't really believe in God, but I didn't really have unbelief about him either. I guess that would indifferent agnosticism? I didn't know and, unless I was pondering the ultimate purpose of life, I didn't care. I wanted there to be a purpose to life. I didn't want death to be the end. That thought was the most depressing of all. What's the point of everything if we die and forget we were ever here and if we are all eventually forgotten? But I had my distractions, the biggest of which I described above. And as long as I had those, I could anesthetize myself from the doom and gloom thinking guaranteed to linger with one who has no eternal hope. So my God-concepts were more like uninformed wishes with nothing to base any hope on for their reality. Idols filled the vacuum. Thankfully that all began to change in what will be 21 years ago this Monday when I first believed in Jesus.
One false convert wrote a letter to Time magazine saying in part, "I am a devout Christian and I don't give much thought to Heaven. My spirituality isn't based on an anthropomorphic, kick-butt God who will throw four generations of children into eternal damnation because some distant forefather ticked him off. Heaven is the flip side of the absolutely barbaric notion of Hell that evolved under that kick-butt mindset...To me, God is a symbol for something unfathomable, an utter mystery that fills my heart with joy and my spirit with song." All I have to say after reading that deep, profound tearjerker is...what a total bunch of utter nonsensical gibberish! This is a classic example of idolatry epitomized by the two words I bolded..."To me..." This person literally fashioned a god that they were comfortable with that has no standards or expectations. In fact, forget standards and expectations, this person's god isn't even an actual being. It's an unfathomable symbol by their own definition! One time in the wilderness when Moses had gone up to Mt. Sinai to meet with the Lord, "the people gathered themselves together around Aaron and said to him, 'Come, make us gods which will go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Aaron said to them, 'Break off the gold earrings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.' So all the people broke off the gold earrings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. He received them from their hand, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into a molded calf. Then they said, 'This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.' When Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, 'Tomorrow will be a feast to the Lord.' So they rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play. The Lord spoke to Moses, 'Go, and get down, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molded calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, 'This is your god, O Israel, which has brought you up from the land of Egypt'" (Exodus 32:1-8 MEV). What that individual did in their letter to Time was no different other than the fact that they didn't build an actual, physical golden calf. But a mental idol is still an idol.
Another religious group has gone so far as to make their idolatry acceptable by trying to change the 10 Commandments themselves. Ray Comfort writes, "Bear in mind, when you speak with Roman Catholics, that this commandment doesn't exist in their catechism. When you mention the second commandment, don't be surprised if they think it is, 'You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.' It's, therefore, understandable why many sincere Roman Catholics bow down to statues, even though the Bible makes it clear that this is a great sin in God's eyes.'"
So how can we guard against idolatry? Take an inventory of your life. What do you spend the most time and money on? What consumes your thoughts? If it is something other than the Lord, his Word, etc., pray about that and see if the Lord leads you to make a change. That doesn't necessarily mean completely cutting out something, though sometimes that is also called for. But, at the very least, a re-prioritizing is sometimes needed. Regardless, scripture is clear that nothing is to come before God. He is not only supposed to be first in our lives, but he is to be the central focus around which everything else in life revolves.
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