A Golden Calf

Yesterday at church, the sermon was titled "The gods we serve." Notice the lowercase "g" because the sermon was all the about the idols in our lives, or the things that take the place of God in our lives. Our pastor was out of town so our associate pastor was preaching and he said that most of us hear the word idol and think we don't have idols in our lives. He referenced Exodus 32 which talks about when Moses had led the Israelites out of Egypt, through the parted Red Sea where the Egyptians were all swallowed up by the waters. Moses was up on Mount Sinai receiving instructions from God and the Israelites were getting impatient about his return. So they decided to construct something they could worship and the result was the golden calf.

When I think of the word "idols," I immediately think of something such as the golden calf, something like a statue that is worshipped. But this is not exclusively what idols can be. Our associate pastor gave us four points that can help us recognize idols in our lives.

~ Idols compete for the place of God. (Idols get your eyes, time, and energy)
~Idols always reflect our culture. (We are attracted to things of the world so we do not stand out as being different, as having Christ's love in our lives.)
~Idols always have a repetitive nature and an addictive power.
~Idols are always fiercely defended.

For me personally, I realized that I have several idols in my life because each and everyday, there are things I put above God. For example, Will and I made a commitment at the beginning of this year that we were going to read through the Bible, something that I shamefully admit, have never done. We started out doing very well yet we have slowly slacked off. So many times I'll get in bed to read that day's reading and I will be too tired or I will start watching tv and end up not reading. So I think, well I'll catch up tomorrow, and then my day starts and I get doing one thing after another and yet again, haven't read. There are even days that go by and I realize I didn't even pray. Why do I do this? My God deserves so much more than this from me and yet so often I fail at giving him everything. I put other things in my day in front of spending time with Him, and nothing I do throughout my day is more important than giving God my time for Him.

There are many things in this world that can come in front of God and become idols in our lives. An idol is not just a worshipped golden calf, it can be our jobs, our hobbies, our interests, our familes' activities, etc. What is it for you? What comes before God in your own life? Christ gave everything for us and deserves nothing less in return.