Focus: Beware of Idols (Pt.2)

Text: 1Jh.5:21

"Little children, keep yourselves from IDOLS. Amen."

We now inquire as to what these idols are. Apostle John mentions 'idols,' which means they are more than one. Many and different idols plague us. John calls his audience "little children." He is their father in the faith. In the line of our study, we can see that children love idols. Toys are their idols - their play things. They are fascinated and thrilled by that which is nothing - bunch of beautified nothing.

The IDOLS are:

*Industry

Here we are dealing with work, occupation, business, profession, career, blue collar jobs, etc.

Work is good. God created us to be industrious. He made us doers, not idlers. But work should never be allowed to take the place of God in our lives. It is an aberration when we let our work become the object of worship. In our world work is prioritized over God. Our work comes first. We serve and worship it even if we fail to admit it. Our work is all that matters. Here is the idol of 'who I am, what I am, and what I can do.' Few Scriptures: Ps.106:39; Act.7:41; Rom.1:25.

*Desires

The idol of desire or the worship of our wants. We want what we want. Nothing else is as important as what we want. It is the desire for power, for pleasure, for position, for possessions, for profit, for property, for success, etc. People even kill just to satisfy their desire - the desire to get rich or have plenty money. Someone has said, "Money, money, money, all that men want is money." Man plots and schemes just to have his way and satisfy his desires. We make our desires supreme - as things to be worshipped. Amnon feigned sick just to have his sister Tamar. He got what he wanted, but didn't want what he got. Paul calls it "the desires of the flesh," and the psalmist prayed, "Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked" (Ps.140:8; Eph.2:3). Understand that good desires can become an idol.

*Opulence

Man loves opulence. Hedonism is his philosophy. What can be as sweet as a life of luxury? Fashion is it. Our capacity for self-indulgence is enormous. Our appetite is unlimited and we go all the way to satisfying it. What we want is not just the good life, but the big life. Jesus says, "And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful" (Mk.4:19). Opulence chokes.

*Love

The worship of love. The idols of sex and romance. Paul talks about the last days when men shall become "lovers of their own selves" and "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God" (2Tim.3:2,4). He also says that the love of money is the root of all evil (1Tim.6:10). The truth we need to understand is that God is love, but love is not God. God is good, but good is not God. Someone says, "If it's good, it's God." It's not always so. Appearance can be deceitful.

Love is twisted into something else when God is taken out of the equation. Then love turns to lust. Love ceases to be love if it is elevated above or practiced without God. Love is a big idol in our world today. The love of the world is different from the love of God. Solomon says, "Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves" (Prov.7:18).

Beware of these idols - Industry, Desire, Opulence, and Love. They don't come into your life declaring themselves as idols. They come in disguise and appear as legitimate and harmless things. They come in as things that do not matter, but sooner or later, they become dozens of matters.

Search your heart and take out any idol that is there. Give God your whole heart. Nothing should compete with or take the place of God in your life. Let there be zero tolerance for idols in your life. Don't cheapen God by harboring other gods. Amen.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter