Idolatry Today

Idolatry is a direct sin towards God. It is mentioned in the Bible 666 times. But what is idolatry, and what does it have to do with today? When people think of idolatry, they think of people making wooden idols and performing ceremonies of worship to them. However, it is much more than that. Anything can become an idol. Work, TV, your computer, a game, work, sports, and even other people. An idol is anything that takes away time that should be spent on God, and usually become the focus of your life. In essence, it becomes your god.
The first time God warns against idolatry is in Exodus 20:4-6. It says,

"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 of worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing children for the sin of their 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."

In order to fully understand this, we must look at James4:4-5. It says,

You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the Spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?

The world can easily become an idol. I'm not saying we should not make time to have fun, but a lot of the time, we start making more and more time for that thing. Eventually we give all our free time over to it. I know this from experience.

In February, I began playing an on-line game I had downloaded. I played probably 4 to 8 hours a day. It began consuming my life. I neglected my chores. My school work suffered, and showed in my grades. I began acting disrespectful to my mother and father. I rarely spent time with my family, or even talking with them. And worst of all, I almost completely stopped reading my Bible, and if I did, it was maybe 20 minutes for the entire day. It was to a point where I had a form of battle going on inside of me. Every time I played, that little voice in my head kept telling me to pick up my Bible, which was always arms length from where I was sitting. But I kept ignoring it. I made the game an idol. I wasn't "spending" time I was "devoting" time to the game. In the Old Testament, it describes devoting objects and things as the irrevocable giving over of things to the Lord. But instead of the Lord, my time was being devoted to the game.
My mom and dad told me all of this a week ago. And I settled the battle within me. The game was deleted off of my computer, along with anything else that I felt was keeping me from spending time with God. And I'm glad I did. I have spent hours reading the Bible this past week. And I have learned so much! I'm so joyful, and yet I'm sad at the same time. I think of all the time I devoted to the game, and what I could have read and learned in that time.
I ask you now, "What is your idol?" Just think about that. Do you have it? If you do, Matthew 18:8-9 says,

If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands and two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fires of hell.

Whatever causes you to sin must be cut off and thrown away. Whatever is your idol, it is taking away time that should be given over to God, and is therefore causing you to sin. Throw it away! Rid your life of it, and give the stolen time over to God to use to teach you, to have you pray, to have you serve, to use in what ever way His plan calls for!
And think before you begin starting a new hobby, or getting that new piece of technology, or signing up for unneeded overtime, or deciding your ready for that relationship. Think about whether you can still keep Most of the time of each day devoted to God. Think about whether God still has something to teach you about the new thing you're going to introduce to your life.
If it still seems fine to continue pursuing, Pray About It! And if it does start taking up that time, then it is not what God wants. So you must remove it from your life. It might not be easy to do so. Like I said, I had an inner battle within me that lasted for 6 months. It took the words out of my mother's mouth, that I was hurting her with the way I treated her, to make my decision.
Ask God to give you strength to remove it, and He will provide.

Idolatry has been and is a great problem in the world. It takes away what was meant to be devoted to God. Don't make the world an idol, and end up losing the time God gave you to use! Make God your world! Worship Him, and read His Word and serve Him! You'll be amazed at what He will do!

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen