"What Is Your Idol?"

Last Lord's Day, in the auditorium Sunday School class, we came to the place in our study of the book of Acts where Paul went to Athens. Acts chapter 17 and verse 16 tells us that "his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols." The Athenians had not been taught about the true God of creation, therefore they were worshipping these idols in ignorance...they didn't know any better. They were pantheistic in that they worshipped many gods by erecting temples in their honor or setting up sculpted images for worshippers to look upon.

There are many people today who worship idols as well...and they do it just like the people of Athens in that they do it ignorantly. Now, we're not likely to find an interesting sculpted statue and feel the need to worship that, but we can still be guilty of having idols in our lives.

When Jesus was asked, in Matthew 22:36, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" He answered His questioner, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." Notice the word "all" being used in each case. This means that God is supposed to have the first place in the Christians heart, mind and life. When we place something...anything...in our lives above God, that thing, effectively, becomes an idol.

So "what is your idol?" They are many and varied. This is where we really need to search our own heart to determine our own guilt or innocence. Sometimes our jobs take first place over everything else. I have known many that have let their hobbies become all important in their lives. Sometimes it might be our families. This is a tough one because we do love and care for our families, but we can still put God first in our lives. You see, it is not hard to let something rise up and take the place of God and His kingdom. Let's resolve, in the new year, to always keep the kingdom of God at the top of our list of priorities.