Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites this: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven: Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold.'” — Exodus 20:22-23 (NIV84)

How silly it would be to have seen, heard and come to know the one true God and in the next moment turn to an idol. But that is exactly what the Israelites did when they made the golden calf. And while we are on this subject, let’s not just point the finger at them. We tend to do the same thing, don’t we!? Over time, we get caught up in the happenings of our life. We kind of put the Lord on the back burner, and we begin to be the lord of our own life. Yes, we can be our own idol. We walk by sight instead of by faith, and we begin to decide for God what we think He should and shouldn’t do. To us, He becomes the puppet on the strings we hold. This should never be!

We need to make sure we are continuously seeing and getting to know God more and more as our life moves forward. A one-time encounter with God will soon fade into a distant memory. This is why we need to be in God’s word and actively involved in prayer. Both of these things keep the new creature in us properly fed and focused. The God of the universe desires to know us and be known by us. He wants to be in a relationship with us. Working to continually grow this relationship with God will help ward off our tendency to make idols. It will keep us focused and on track. It will allow us to see clearly through the eyes of faith.

Peace!

Pastor Tom

www.firmlyrooted.church