The Scribe Eunice

SMALL IDOLS.

WRITTEN BY: EUNICE ISEOLUWA OYEKUNLE

When I was in the children church, one of the popular topics that I often listened to was, ‘’ The ten commandments’’. The first commandment says, ‘’Do not have any other gods apart from me’’.

I see gods as idols that some people worship. Looking at the old testament, we can see that Aaron made an idol for the children of Israel to worship. He made an idol from the golden earrings of the people. They ended up worshiping the idol saying, ‘’Behold the god that parted the red sea and delivered us from the hands of the Egyptians.” I am very sure that God would have looked at them with displeasure and a frown etched on His face. They really dishonored God which made him to bring His anger upon them. No wonder why God said in His word that He is a jealous God.

When I was still very young, I literally thought that worshiping an idol actually means bowing down before gods. But my perspective about idols changed drastically as I grew older. As I grew up, my definition of idols goes thus, ‘’An idol is a person or a thing that you place above your Creator and you cannot do without it.

Recently, God had been warning me against having idols. I was amazed at the warning because I felt that having an idol means worshiping another gods and am not worshiping other gods but God in heaven. Now, I will give a vivid example of what happened this week that really made me to confirm what God was really warning me about.

Right from when this lock-down started, we had been enjoying almost 24 hours electricity. I was really happy because I had no worries. When I wake up, I knew that my phone would have been fully charged. I could watch TV and change the channels any way I want. Sometimes, during my quiet time, I would be thinking about the light and the movie or video that I want to watch. I thought that I don’t have any worries, since there was always light.

Unfortunately, for the past few days, there had been total blackout. There has been no electricity supply at all. I thought that my life had ended. Having no light means that, I would have to start missing my favorite TV channels that I felt that I couldn’t do without. It means managing my battery which I did not care about how I used it when there was still regular supply of electricity. I felt a void within me that only regular supply of electricity could fill. It was at my place of prayer that God told me that my phone and electricity had become my idols. I felt a rush of guilt over me. I disobeyed the word of God that says, ‘’The Joy of the Lord is my strength’’ my Joy was already found in the earthly things of this world. I had to surrender all my idols to God and He drew me into a warm embrace. What a forgiving father!

The summary of all that I have written is that, there are small idols that we as Christians might not even notice in our lives. Some people’s idol is their spouse or lover. Early in the morning, the first thing they do is to speak to their spouses and that is the last thing they do, leaving God out of the equation. Some people’s idol is chatting. Chatting has dominated their prayer life and also personal Bible study. Some people’s idol is Books. If they do not read a book in a day, they haven’t lived at all. They do not understand that God should be our number one priority, then other things can be after.

The Bible says that, ‘’Seek first the kingdom of God, and then other things shall be added unto it.” As Christians, let our joy and happiness be in God, the owner of our lives not in people or the materials things in this world.

Let’s check ourselves and identify the small idols in our lives. Having small idols is a sin and it is breaking the first commandment of God. Breaking the commandments of God means that we are not going to partake in God’s blessings. We might also lose our eternal reward.

As believers, may God help us live according to God’s word and help us to obey His commandments in Jesus name. Amen

May God help us to be the doer of His word and not the hearer alone in Jesus name.

Kindly leave your views in the comment box. I’d love to hear from you. Thank you.