5 Pointers of Idolatry

-
IDOLATRY, this was the one sin the children of Israel kept on committing, generation after generation. And it was this same sin that made God turn His back on them. The modern day idolatry is not the typical bowing down of heads to gods, but rather, it is anything that we exalt above the name of Jesus, even right from our minds.

While we may be confident we have no idols, below are 5 pointers of idolatry we might be unaware of.

 1. AS A CHRISTIAN, WHEN YOU AWAKE IN THE MORNING, WHERE IS THE FIRST PLACE YOU GO? Into whose presence do you firstly visit? Into your inbox SMS, twitter, Instagram, Facebook? The Psalmist says, "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." Psalm 5:3... Does the LORD hear your voice right after you have checked all you notifications? If yes, then I'm afraid you do have an idol.

 2. WHAT WAGES WAR WITHIN YOU? Do you have to always battle with doing or not doing something? Check it out, that might be your idol. "I love God's law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is at war with my mind." Romans 7:22-23.

 3. WHEN YOUR DESIRES BECOMES YOUR DEMAND. You may desire to ride a nice car. But when that desire or most of your other desires start to turn themselves into demands, then sweetie, you kinda have an idol. II Timothy 2:22 "Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companion of those who call on the LORD with pure hearts."

 4. WHAT DO YOU CONCENTRATE SO MUCH ON, AND SELDOM BREAK OFF? Is it surfing the web? Reading novels? What can you not go a day without doing? For me, it used to be my phone. But I now I can actually go a few days without my phone. I learned it the hard way. You know, when God is ready to deal with something, He does it anyway. I stopped idolizing my phone when I started living in a house without mobile network. And yes, it was gross!

 5. WHO IS THAT PERSON YOU SCARE AND WORRY SO MUCH ABOUT LOSING? Who is the person you wouldn't mind sacrificing certain things for? I hope you are aware that you should not love anyone more than you love the LORD your God? Jesus had to retreat from his mother and family at some point. I am not asking you to desert your loved ones, but you see, this Christian pilgrim of ours is a personal journey, so do not make an idol of your loved ones, lest you lose eternity. Mark 3:31-35.

Finally, dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts...1John 5:20. Shalom.

Comments

Unknown said…
God bless you ma for the exposition..more Grace IJN
22 August 2016 at 08:28
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Midlife Crisis and the Bible

-
Image
Midlife crisis, "a loss of self-confidence and feeling of anxiety or disappointment that can occur in early middle age." Generally, midlife crisis occurs between ages 45 - 55. But, I would say midlife crisis can occur at any age. Or how do we explain a frustrated Engineering Graduate who works as an unskilled labour due to unemployment? These days, twentysomethings are not far from midlife crisis. What does the Bible say about midlife crisis? How does one go about a dashed dream at twentysomething? Apart from what you know, what else has the story of Ruth thought you? Ruth 1-4 tells us of the story of a young Moabite lady, Ruth, who lost her husband at a very young age. Ruth, then went with her mother-in-law, Naomi, back to her home in Judah. Thinking about it, Ruth was a young lady facing a midlife crisis. She was a widow without a child. We do not know what hopes and dreams got shattered along with the death of her husband. However, we can say that a lot o...
Read more

Things You Shouldn't Do In Church

-
Last week Thursday, I was in the Bible Study in my fellowship, and while the message was being preached, I rested my head on my thigh (bending forwards to rest my head, with my arms as support on my thigh), you get what I mean right? I wasn't exactly sleeping though, but in that position, I appeared to have somewhat gone far away from the Bible Study. Out of nowhere, the Bible Study secretary called me to answer a question! I couldn't even at that first instance comprehend the question, so, I asked him to repeat himself, and guess what? The congregation busted out laughing. I didn't have much of an issue with that, not until the Bible Study secretary had to compare me with Eutychus right in front of everybody, (Oh My God!!!). That was quite unnecessary if you would ask me, you know, I wasn't even sleeping in the first place. Alright, end of story. One thing I (you) should try as much as possible NOT to do is sleep during a sermon, or Bible study, or rather, appear...
Read more

What You Should Know Before You Start Every Competition

-
COMPETITION, is one thing, as mortal beings, we cannot but do. Thanks to Biology, competition is one of the characteristics of living things, so it's not as though it is a sin. But as a Christian, there are some things you ought to know while you are out there competing with others. 1. The aim of every competition is to win, to come out better than every other counterpart. As a matter of fact, some Christians now compete to oppress the losers so to speak. That is bad actually, and is in no way healthy. When you find yourself in a situation where you have to just compete, your aim should be to win, and not to oppress your counterparts. You should be able to be a team with your competitors at any point in time if need be, and not sworn enemies. It is the devil and his own who oppresses, and you are not one of his, are you? 2. When competing, let's say in a business environment, it should always be at the back of your mind that you are a Christian who lives to serve and to ple...
Read more