Skip to main content

The Flexibility of Idolatry

Exodus 20: 3 

“You shall have no other gods before me.” 

Idolatry is one of those things that are very rarely talked about in today’s society. The only thing that we may say is “that’s my idol”. This phrase may sound harmless, I have definitely said it, but as I have gotten older all that phrase really means is “that’s my God”. Our closest association with Idolatry is within the Old Testament, and I think the assumption is that because it happened then, it doesn’t happen now. However, Idolatry isn’t merely worshipping statues or golden calf's, it’s a heart posture.  

In simplicity, Idolatry is anything that replaces God. But, in order to know what replaces God in our lives, I think it’s important to understand the role God should already have. Without an understanding of God, how can we ever understand what replaces Him? 

The most basic understanding of God is that He is the creator of all things, including you. No one knows a thing best, then the person who created that very thing. The same premise is for God. If God created you, then He knows you best: He knows who you are, what you’ve gone through and what you need. God is a reliable outlet to go to, because He knows what you need even before you ask for it.  

Looking more closely at the verse, we see that rejecting idolatry isn’t a suggestion, it’s a requirement. When God requires us to do something, it’s not because He doesn’t want us to have freedom, He simply loves us so much that He wants to protect us. When giving this requirement, God knew something that we didn’t: He knew that idols aren’t a sufficient means of healing. Idols are a temporary solution to a long-lasting problem.  

There is a flexibility that is associated with Idolatry. Although God is speaking to the Israelites in this verse, He is also speaking to us now. Whether it’s that show we always go to when we are sad, or that person we confide in constantly, or even that snack we always run towards when things go wrong. All of these things aren’t inherently bad, and if you do any of these things you shouldn’t feel shame, however God should be our first direction we run towards.  

If we look at the verse from a grammatical lens, we see there is a subtle but key difference between “God” and “gods”, though they may look similar. Of course, one is plural and the other is not, which shows that God is singular and self-sufficient, however there is also a difference in the capital letters. One has a capital “G” and the other has a lower case “g”: things are only capitalised to show importance. And I think that can speak to our lives, the things that we replace God with may look like a solution to our issue, they may appear to be self-sufficient like God, but it will always be inferior.  

There is only one singular and superior God that should not only be capitalised grammatically but also in our lives.  

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Choosing Love

1 John 4:19   “We love because H e first loved us”   Whenever I’m in a bad mood... let’s just say I’m not the nicest person to be around. I’m the type of person that can’t hide how I’m feeling. I rarely smile when something is wrong, I probably walk a little different and most likely I have my head dangling down moping. In this state, I’m probably a short fuse: if someone probably looks at me wrong, I may get angry.   I don’t say all of this to applaud myself, but rather to show what not to do. In this world , it is very easy to not have a good day: whether it’s a person that irritated us, maybe a particular circumstance that you’re in, or ma ybe it’s even yourself. All of this, regardless of the situation forces us to have a choice: a choice of how we decide to treat people.   Love is always spoken about from a feeling-based concept, and though you can feel love for someone, very often we mis s the times when it is not easy. The reason why the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Seeing people through being seen

Gen e sis 16:13   “She gave his name to the Lord who spoke to her: You are the God wh o sees me , for she said, I have seen the One who sees me”   One of the names of God is ‘El Roi’ which translates to “The God who sees me ”. When hearing that, you're probably feeling quite exposed or f eel that you have no privacy, however being seen is actually a good thing. A God that sees you shows that whatever you’re going through, even the things you don’t tell anyone about, you and I have a God that acknowledges our pain and acknowledges our circumstance. You are not alone in your struggles.    Relating to the verse, to provide context, here is what is going on:   Hagar, an Egyptian slave, has essentially been mistreated by Sarai (Abraham’s wife) because she got pregnant and Sarai hadn’t at that time, so she was just moving jealous (a bit unnecessary if you ask me) With this mistreatment,  Hagar tries to run away from her distress and God essentially says...
Post a Comment
Read more

An Omnipresent God

Hebrews 13:8   “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever”   Usually with these blogs I tend to write quite broadly: trying to speak and relate to pretty much everyone . However, today I w anted to speak to a particular type of person: a person who has trust issues. I’m not talking about having trust issues with people, alt hough it would be very normal if this was the case, I’m talking about having trust issues with God.   When I say trust issues with God, I’m not saying you reject his character or existence, but rather you are rejecting his nature of being Omnipresent. When we see this word being used it’s usually from a geographical perspective but very rarely is it talked about from a time perspective.   Let me tell you a quick story about how God convicted me this week, and what influenced this blog today. I was walking back home physically, but in my mind, I was working overtime: stressing about my finances and budgeting. During that time...
Post a Comment
Read more