Are There Idols today? The First Commandment…

I am sure you've heard of the Ten Commandments, and maybe you've thought to yourself, "None of these are a problem for me" or "I don't have to deal with that." Maybe you didn't give them much further thought. But these commands are very important to God, which makes them an important part of our faith journey, too! This week, I'd like us to take the time to reconsider how several of these commandments may apply to our daily lives so that we can understand and live by them. :-)

"'You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an image 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 or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…'" (Exodus 20:3-5 NIV).

There we have it—the first commandment, right out of the gate! We might think, "Oh, I'm so thankful that I don't live in Old Testament times!" Let's take a look for a moment at Daniel in the Bible and the time in which he lived. Daniel, an Israelite, was captured, became a prisoner, and lived in the secular kingdom of Babylon. During his time there, we read, "King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue. It was 90 feet tall and 9 feet wide…" (Daniel 3:1 NIRV)

Picture that! That's a huge, visible idol statue! Nebuchadnezzar then forced the people to prostrate themselves before it. (see Daniel 3:5-6 NIRV) For Daniel, this edict obviously contradicted the First Commandment that the Lord had given: "'You shall not bow down to them or worship them…'" (Exodus 20:5 NIV).

Fortunately, we don't have that problem today...or do we? We may say, "But I don't see a ninety-foot statue to idolize"…and therein lies the danger. The gods we prostrate ourselves before today are smaller, subtler, and more insidious. They might not be as obvious as a giant statue, but they're just as present. Here are a few examples, and I think you may quickly realize if one or more of these has (or could!) become a god in your life:

• Excessive concern with exercise: has this become a preoccupation that seems to come before anything else? Maybe you're scheduling everything in your life around your workouts, or you're constantly thinking about when you can exercise next. Are you willing to put everything else on the back burner to satisfy your urge to work out?
• Your diet: has this become more important to you than maintaining social interaction?
• Your career or your drive for success: are you giving your all to this pursuit without involving God in your stresses and successes?
• Your shopping addiction: are you continually online, browsing, and finding yourself, yet again, with a full shopping cart?
• Social media: while you're constantly online, is God offline for you?

Anything you do in extremes or that's constantly dominating your thoughts can be your little (or not so little!) idol. Today, you have the chance to relegate this idol to its proper place. God must come first. How can we accomplish this? *Ask God to forgive you for placing something in His place, believe He will help, and take action in the ways He shows you!

You are a miracle!

Déborah

P.S. The texts of this reading come from the daily email A Miracle Every Day. If you want to receive an email every day, I invite you to subscribe to A Miracle Every Day.