Who is Your God?

October 13
"Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Should I be consulted by them at all? I think we sometimes believe we have to set up a graven image or carved idol and bow down before it to fit the biblical description of idolaters. These words to Ezekiel (14:3), which God told him to convey to Israel, clearly indicate that is simply not true. In Ezekiel’s day gold and silver were precious metals that symbolized man’s departure from worshipping the one true God. Today, some people worship their children, some worship their spouse, some worship their job (we call them workaholics), some worship their favorite pro or even amateur sports team, some worship gambling, some booze. The problem is that our so-called medical professionals (I like to call them psycho-babblers), have developed such a classic and profound vocabulary to describe each of these idols, we no longer recognize them as such.

We call our obsession with sports stress relief, we call loving our children more than life itself good parenting, we call loving our spouse more than eating good spousal relationship building, we call gambling recreation, and we call drunkenness a sickness. And because we listen to those who would have us feel better about our sins rather than confess and forsake them, as God and His word clearly tells us we must do, we continue in behavior whose end is, and worst, eternity in hell, or at best, entry into the kingdom of God with the smell of fire still on our clothing (Rom. 1:32; 2:2, 3; Gal. 5:21; Heb. 11:14; I Cor. 3:15; Jude 22, 23).

King David was a warrior; he was also a sinner redeemed by grace. Killing his enemies was not an obsession; it was his calling and responsibility as the king of God’s chosen people. It’s more than just a passing observation that he committed several heinous sins during his reign in Israel. The reason God called him a man after His own heart is not because he was the picture of perfection in his personal life; it was because he was a repentant man who fell on his knees and sought God’s forgiveness the moment he was confronted with his sin by God’s prophets. Apparently, the apostle Paul loved athletics. He engaged them and used them as examples of how to run the race and fight the spiritual battles against the demons of Satan we have to fight daily. Athletics was the means whereby he could fulfill his calling. They were not an obsession. Hosea loved his wife; he took her back even when she committed harlotry against him because he knew she was a type of backsliding Jew and, in today’s jargon, ‘Christian.” She was not his obsession. Paul was a hard worker in private business when it was necessary. He did so anytime the churches to whom he ministered couldn’t afford to support his ministry financially. He knew physical labor in private business was sometimes necessary, and that for most people it is necessary for most of their lives. But secular work was not his obsession.

Paul knew such labor had one purpose. He understood his first responsibility was to fulfill the ministry to which he had been called. Our labor in industry provides us with enough financial stability to bring food to the table for us and our loved ones, a roof over our heads, and clothing to cover our bodies. Anything else we own that is unattached to ministry is and idol if we are not willing to part with it the moment it gets in the way of our calling to ministry. If I’m 35 years old, have four children, own a $50,000 sport convertible that only holds two people when a $20,000 crossover automobile would be better suited to my personal and ministry needs, I have probably set up that sports convertible as an idol in my heart. If I spend four hours a week or more watching any sporting event(s) and only spend 2 hours a week studying God’s word, teaching it to others, and/or fulfilling any part of my calling, that sport is probably an idol in my heart. If I love my children or spouse so much that I blame God and stop praying, studying His word, and/or worshiping Him when something bad happens to one or the other of them, they are, in all likelihood idols in my heart. If I spend an hour a day exercising to keep physically fit, and less than 30 minutes a day studying His word to stay spiritually fit or to fulfill my ministry, exercise and/or my body is/are probably an idol(s) in my heart. If I’m a drunk, booze is an idol in my heart; if I’m a gambler (of any kind or magnitude) that is the idol I have set up in my heart.

I trust and pray everyone reading this is getting the idea. It is an obvious fact easily proven by even the casual observer that America is a nation filled with idolaters. And we are being encouraged to continue in our idolatry by the false prophets who call themselves psychologists, PhDs in psychology (which, by the way includes most Christians counselors), MDs, psychiatrists (medical brain wranglers), and even many graduates from our finest conservative, reformed Bible colleges and seminaries.

Hear O America, the word of the Lord, “I am weary of your idolatry. Put away these idols or I will come and rip them out of your heart and destroy all of your molten and carved images. I am disgusted with your claim to love and worship me. Flee from those worthless shepherds who claim to be speaking for me. They are liars and thieves. They’re feeding you the vain imaginations of their heart. They have no word from me. They only use my word for personal gain. They’re fleecing my sheep, not feeding them.” And this “is” God’s word for us today.