Like the Israelites, we are warned not to make carved images in the form of any figure in form of a human being, any animal on earth, in the air or in the sea to worship them. Neither should we look up to the sun, moon, stars or all the host of heaven to worship and serve them. (Deut 4 vs 15-19)
Our LORD is a jealous God: hence we must be careful not to fall into idolatry. It is incredibly easy to do so, especially in this modern age.
By definition, modern-day idolatry in Christianity is the shifting of ultimate trust, worth and devotion away from God onto created things. While ancient idolatry involved bowing to physical statues or golden calves.
Modern idolatry is more subtle as it often disguises itself as normal pursuits, comfort, or good things that usurp or takes God’s supreme place in our heart. Let’s pause for a minute and ask: what are those things competing for or already consuming the attention we owe to God?
Such forms of modern idolatry are:
• Comfort and Security: It is organizing our life entirely around ease, safety, and financial stability while viewing God as a tool to maintain that lifestyle.
• Control and Self-Reliance: is obsessing over managing future outcomes, career/business success or personal status, effectively making oneself or one’s achievements the master of life.
• Technology and Distractions: This is allowing smartphones, social media, and digital consumption to consume time, attention, and mental space once reserved for prayer and word study.
• Approval and Celebrity Culture: This is seeking human validation, social influence, or placing Christian leaders and public figures on pedestals rather than focusing on Christ.
• Materialism and Greed: Is accumulating wealth and possessions to build personal ego or security, which Apostle Paul explicitly equates with idolatry in Colossians 3:5.
These and many more are some of the common forms of modern day idolatry. We are therefore urged to live by and keep the general and personal rules and regulations set by God – both for us as the body of Christ and as individuals. We must abstain from every form of idolatry so that it may go well with us and our generations.
PRAYER
Father, I repent of materialism, greed and seeking human validation. Forgive me for placing my leader, spouse or children above Christ and for spending hours on social media instead of in prayers and Word study. I repent of obsessing over career achievements, personal status and viewing You (God) as a tool rather than loving you genuinely. Cleanse me in Jesus name. (Amen)
Shalom 🕊️
Bimpe Lawal
ARE YOU LIVING BY THE RULES – PT 1
Like Samson, John the Baptist, Samuel, Daniel and the Rechabites -just to mention a few – we are all given rules and regulations to follow by God in order to guide us and use us as His vessels in possessing and maintaining the new phases of our lives.
In the same vein, God gives us rules and regulations to run with in life especially at the entry point into another phase or level.
Which leads me to ask: what rule and regulation has the LORD given you to run with, either in the past or presently? Are you still running with it? For some it’s abstinence from wine: for others, it’s to fellowship with God at a particular time, while for others, it’s abstinence from a particular food, and others have strict restrictions varying in different areas. Whatever the rule and regulation is, we are instructed not to add to it nor subtract from it, instead we are to keep it and run with it for our personal growth and development.
In keeping and practicing any of these rules and regulations, we become wise and gain understanding – which are valuable treasures no one can acquire by human strength. Everyone tends to love and lean toward that one person that listens to them when they are corrected. So it is with our Heavenly Father: His love for a consciously obedient child is far greater than the one who is disobedient or partially obedient to Him. Hence, if we haven’t been diligent with the rule and regulation ,there’s still time for repentance.
It takes a whole lot of discipline to follow these rules. From experience, though it wasn’t easy initially -because flesh will always contest against the Spirit and I’m not there yet, as growth is continuous – once you are persistent and diligent on the journey, you’ll overcome the urge to be laid back. A good soldier does not take his eyes off the mission and people assigned under his authority. In the same vein, both our biological and spiritual children are our responsibilities, whom we must pray for, encourage according to scripture, teach on how to hear from God, teach on how to shine their light in places of darkness and guide and advise according to God’s Word so as not to build up any form of idolatry in their lives. Because it’s our duty to share the rules we are running with, with them.
Prayer: Father, help me to be committed to the rule or guardrail you have put in place in my life, for I acknowledge they are there to improve my life and family as a whole in Jesus name Amen.
Shalom 🕊️
Bimpe Lawal