CAST OUT THE MIND IDOL
Main text: Ezekiel 14:4-8 – ‘Everyone who sets up his idol in his heart,…I will set my face against that man … I will cut him off from the midst of my people.’
Matthew 10:37 – He who loves father, or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
Most of us will scoff at the very notion that we worship an idol. We think of idol worshipping as something done by ignorant, ancient people who prostrate before some carved wooden or stone images.
God, however, knows that the real idols are in the mind, not on a pedestal or in a shrine. Through His prophet Ezekiel, He warned Israel of the idols in their minds. Those were the things they put in their minds that caused them to stumble into lawlessness.
As a Christian, you may declare that you have never and will never worship an idol, but are there some ‘false gods’ lurking in your mind of which you may not be aware of?
It should be noted that God delights in giving good gifts to his children, including material things, so there is nothing wrong with having worldly wealth: the error comes when we begin to value worldly things above God, worshipping the gift rather than the giver.
In our second text for today, we are warned that anything we put before God is an idol. If we put our spouse, children or other family member before God, we are not worthy of Him. Some people may put their life pursuits before God.
What about our career, our quest for money, pursuit for pleasure , sex, drug, music, sports, hobbies, video games or other entertainments? Any of these can be your mind idol if you place it before your obedience to God, the bible says that you are not worthy of Him.
We conclude with these questions: What do you worship and how? Do you worship the true God or an idol?
GOD IS A JEALOUS GOD; DON’T PLACE ANYTHING ABOVE HIM.
Prayer Point: May I never love any creation more than the creator in Jesus name.