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Who is my Master?

With all due respect, it seems like a rather blunt ending to an otherwise amazing book. It is even hard to understand the sentence in the context of the previous verses. The apostle John ends his first epistle with these words “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” Now, he was writing to Christians. In the previous verses, he is going on about them being in Christ. In previous chapters, he writes about them being “of God”. Are they seriously in danger of returning to worshipping physical wooden, silver, or gold idols? My guess is probably not. But it is obviously important. It is his closing line! And he is talking to us, not heathens. What is he on about?

Turns out, if you do a little Bible study, that some not-so-physical stuff and some physical stuff (like money) are also viewed as idols if it starts controlling our passions and actions. There are things in the world that actually compete with God’s place in our hearts. Things that tend to weigh on us and influence our decisions. Things that try to push us in a direction contrary to where the Holy Spirit is leading us to.

Before you reject the relevance of the above paragraph for yourself, just pause a second. Remember, John was speaking to Christians like us. It is relevant to you. There are things that persistently and viciously compete to be our masters. These things may be financial gain, approval of people, pleasures of the world, selfish ambition, or whatever. But there really is only one Master, and he is not in the business of sharing leadership. His name is Jesus Christ. You and I have to beware of idols, too. In fact, we have to actively and consistently monitor our hearts, because these other kinds of idols, well, they are apt at sneaking up on us.