Weekend Talk: Modern-day idols

We are told that there will be many surprises on the day of judgement before we are ushered towards where we belong.

 One of the surprises might be the subject of this article.

For starters, they might have looked for our name in the Book of Life and not found it.

That in itself would be a disastrous surprise!

Then comes the loyalty quiz.

“What idols did you have while you lived on earth?”  

“Who?  Me?  Of course I didn’t have any idols!”

Your response would be emphatic. 

“I was a Christian on earth and knew very well that I should not have any other gods beside our heavenly Father.”

The next question might confuse us: “You say you didn’t have any other gods on earth, but how about idols?

How many idols did you have?”

While we stand there confused, we would wonder if there is a difference between “idols” and “other gods.”  

The reason this matter is of grave importance is that it is on account of it that God described himself as jealous when he commanded his people not to have other gods besides him.  “. . . For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God . . .” (Exodus 20:2). 

Jealousy

Jealousy is a most potent emotion with far-reaching consequences.

Ask any jealous wife or husband for the details!

One day when I went on leave to my hometown primarily to visit my father, I did something that released a father’s jealousy.

After briefly greeting my father, I went about visiting neighbours and whiling away much time.

When I returned to my father, he asked me, “Where were you?”  I explained to him that I went about greeting the neighbours.

“Did you come home because of me or because of the neighbours?” he quizzed me.

“Do you belong to me or you belong to the neighbours?”

I had no proper response and had to apologise.

By not giving priority to my father and rather spending more time elsewhere to his neglect, I had undermined his role in my life at that crucial time of arriving home.  

Every time I find myself spending more time doing other things and less time with God, I hear my father’s jealous voice.

Wilderness idol

When the Israelites made an idol in the wilderness to replace God, they uttered a most sacrilegious statement when they claimed that the idol was the one that delivered them from slavery.  Can you imagine that?

We do the same, don’t we?  God supplies our needs and keeps us safe; then we neglect him and give our time and allegiance elsewhere.

Such disloyalty, infidelity, and unfaithfulness should shame us!

Researching on this topic, I was amazed to read what one writer said about modern-day idols: “Modern idols or false gods can take such forms as clothes, homes, businesses, machines, cars, pleasure and numerous other material deflectors.”

Another author wrote: "Intangible things such as the quest for degrees and titles can be gods and idols.  Anything that you love, treasure, prioritise, identify with, or look to for need fulfilment outside of God, can be an idol in your heart and life.”

A tall list

Whew!  What a tall list of “other gods” or “idols”!  But we could add more: money, pleasure, obsession, entertainment, work, food, fashion, television, mobile phone, social media.

Even the people we adore, such as church founders, religious leaders, musicians, and the groups that demand our allegiance can be idols to us.

On this subject, someone asked, “Do we prioritise anything or anyone above God?

Does anything bring us more pleasure than the things of God?

“Do we place our identity in anything over our status as children of God?  Do we seek fulfilment or satisfaction from anything outside of God?”

Of course, some of these questions may be debatable, but they nevertheless give us food for thought concerning our relationship with God.

We belong to God

The truth is: “The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1).

So we belong to God and owe our life to him, because he created us and cares for us.

How then shall we take what is the Lord’s and give it to anyone or anything else?

It is like being employed by Company A which pays us to work, and then using our time to work for Company B. 

Would that be fair to Company A and would Company A not terminate our appointment?

In fact, the single most important reason why God drove his people away into exile was because they neglected him and rather paid allegiance to idols and worshipped lifeless gods.

Today, the same reason may account for the spiritual impoverishment of those who fail to draw close to God and rather make more time for other pursuits.

The writer is a publisher, author, writer-trainer and CEO of Step Publishers.

E-mail: lawrence.darmani@gmail.
com