Modern idol worshiper

Call To Prayer

Title: Modern idol worshipper

Date: 31.03.2023

By: Njuacha Hubert

“Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?  You have lifted up the shrine of your king,  the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god which you made for yourselves. Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty. Amos 5: 25-27

In the past idol worship was common practice. People had many objects which they kept at home worshipping them. Each idol served its own purpose. One could be for prosperity, perhaps another for health, and so on. When Christianity came, these practices became somehow old-fashioned for the new generation. Society began to shun idol worshippers. In many places, there have been I can say group conversions. The kind where it is more of a cultural shift or peer group pressure as opposed to personal convictions. So just as we see the Israelites did in the wilderness after God took them out of Egypt, after idol worshiping ended as an acceptable norm, some people mix the two; that is they go to church and call themselves Christians and then they go to their shrines and its native priest for what they may call special cases. But as we see the prophet Amos saying in the opening verse this is just self-deceit or in some cases ignorance and confusion. This is the first commandment (Exodus 20:1-3.)

But let’s not be in a rush to say “I am not an idol worshipper”  because you might not fall on the extreme side but in Christ we are challenged to be perfect as God is perfect. After all, what we have seen above still looks like the traditional idol worshipper and it is not what really inspired my choice of title “modern idol worshipper”. Idol worshipping in Old covenant standard is the literal worshipping of the wooden/bronze handmade object but as in Christ’s style of saying, “you have heard that it was said don’t … but now I tell you …”,  whenever we exalt something above God in our lives we practice idol worship. When you believe your job to be the source of your providence, when you boast about the strength of your door as the source of your security, just to name a few. Now God may provide for you through a job and keep you safe by means of a strong house but the means is not to be exalted above God. This means even if you are about to lose your job you will remember where your help comes from and find peace.

Prayer Point: 

Let’s pray for God to help expose the idols in our lives.