No Idols
"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand [generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments." --Exodus 20:4-6
Ok, we just looked at God saying to have no other gods before Him. Good enough. Well He continues on saying that not only should not have any gods before Him, you shouldn't even make anything that resembles a god, an idol to bow down to.
I'm going to get real personal here now. How many of us have idols in our houses? Now, when I think of idols I think of little statues of gods that have been carved that have a prominent spot that people bow down to. I would say that probably most of us who are Christians do not have such things. But what about your tv or computer? Now I've probably struck a nerve, but hang with me.
How many of us spend more time in front of our computer or tv updating facebook, playing games, or watching movies than talking with those who matter most to us? Lately, I have been very bad at this. Instead of focusing in class or on my wife, I am bowing down to my mac and giving it my time when I should be spending it more productively (like doing homework or spending time with my wife).
But it's not just limited to a computer or a tv. Anything can become an idol. Basically, whatever keeps you from devoting your time to God is an idol. So how can we find a balance? Is there a way to find balance? Good questions.
I believe that the balance lies in our living a Christ centered life. In a discussion the other day, a friend of mine and I were talking about living a spiritual life. So many of us tend to compartmentalize our lives to the point where we only do spiritual things at certain times (church, worship, etc...). Yet, as Christians our whole lives should be spiritual. Everything we do should be spiritual. There is no compartmentalization.
So how do we find balance? By making sure that God is included in every aspect of our lives? By living a spiritual life and following God's lead we should naturally do the things that He wants us to do. So lets bow down and worship God, make Him our main focus and the other things will fall into place.
October 2nd, 2009 - 18:02
Spot on Nick! It’s such a subtle thing though, when we allow technology to become an idol. Technology is used as a tool, and in this day and age it’s used for so many things: studying, writing,note-taking, blogging, social networks, E-mail, and other communication like IM and Skype. So where to draw the line I wonder? When our computers, phones, and iPods are used in so many areas of life as a necessity even, how can we know if our tools are becoming idols? I think you nailed it when you said productivity is the key.
I spend time just surfing and not getting anything done but intaking trivial things. My wife and I sometimes will watch shows together, but don’t tell anyone, that gets excessive too!
The thing is, I believe that these things can be used for good or evil. Paul makes an important statement in 1 Corinthians 10:31-’whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.’ I wonder how much would be cut out of our lives if our focus was to glorify God. That’s the point of the commandments.
Thanks Nick.
P.S. It’s interesting you posted on this topic, because I was just being humorous a second ago and told the dog that he shouldn’t bow down to Baals or Asherah poles.
October 2nd, 2009 - 18:14
Nathan,
You have some great points. Many times we take the things that should be tools and turn them into idols. It happens with all sorts of things, not just computers or iPhones. We can turn our cameras, camping equipment, guitars, etc… all into idols.
Nick
October 3rd, 2009 - 12:35
This is indeed an interesting topic, one that I personally have tried to understand and quantify more precisely over the years. What has become very interesting to me, from a high school teacher’s perspective, is to observe students, what they do or do not “bow down to.” To them bowing down to a person or a object is completely meaningless, which I think is a huge danger. And with such things as idols, or what we come to depend on, focus on, give our attention to that is not glorifying God, it is these things that become habits, ones we may not even be aware. I see it every day in different students, and also, in my own life. Interestingly enough, with today’s self image problems, whatever the source, it seems like students are making themselves the idol. Now whether that is just a socially maturing device to achieve a level of self-confidence or otherwise is up for debate.
August 1st, 2010 - 18:33
i think that spiritual life is much more important compared to our earthly life.’-.