An Afterthought on Idolatry

God is a jealous God. He wants your focus, your love, your devotion, your worship. It isn't too much to ask, he made you and bought you with the price of His son's blood.
When we do not make him our God, and instead make someone/something/someplace our god, He is grieved.

God throughout the course of the Bible has sent his servants to destroy the idols of His people, to destroy their groves, their temples. God doesn't want to share a throne, he wants exclusivity. Either he's on it, or he isn't.

But He doesn't wait idly for you to allow him on the throne. He will speak to you, convict you. Then he will remove the god little by little. In Jeremiah 4 it speaks of God giving an ultimatum. Return to Him, or be burned in an unquenchable fire of his fury. And it goes without saying that in that flame the idols will be devoured, common life will be devoured, and potentially lives devoured.

We are sheep. We need a shepherd, a guide, a god. We don't know the future, we barely grasp the present. We have very little strength, if any, in the grand scheme of things. We have little wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.

When we place our trust in gods and let them govern our lives, we will stumble through the paths of darkness and destruction. When we replace God with a person, or a thing, or even a place, then we have no guidance. The underlying goal is to remain in its presence for however long possible. To maintain a grasp of it.

And then God's judgment strikes.

We lose whatever thing we idolized(a talent, a car or house or any other materialistic possession, an ability of the mind--that is, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of any topic).

We lose whomever we idolized(a family member, a friend, a spouse, a girlfriend/boyfriend).

We lose wherever we idolized(a job).

And when those things are chiseled out of enthronement, we are empty, without guide, devastated.


God doesn't want to hurt you. He doesn't want to take away those things you love(so long as what you love is not what God hates). He simply wants to be your God, for you to be His servant, His child, His bride. Several times when dealing with Israel in the Major and Minor Prophets of the Bible, God cries out for them to return to Him.

Read Joel 2. In verse 12 he begins the ultimatum. God wants us to turn to Him with all our hearts. To rend our hearts(the picture being of biblical mourning and the rending of clothes showing outward repentance. God is interested in the inward repentance--the heart, the throne. God wants us to tear apart the throne we have in our hearts, removing the former god).
The passage goes on to say that God is gracious and merciful; and that He will supply full satisfaction (Remember, when we no longer have a god on the throne of our hearts a dark void overcomes us. God fills that void completely. God satisfies. (Note also that even when we have a god enthroned in our hearts, if it isn't God Almighty, then the void is still there, though we can deceived ourselves into dulling the hunger, to ignore the void.) )

Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn [yourselves] from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.
Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn [yourselves], and live ye.
--Ezekiel 18:30-32

God doesn't want to put us to ruin. God wants us to live, to have a new heart(throne) and a new spirit. God isn't delighted when we are punished and put to ruin because of our sin and idolatry. It grieves Him.

God continually cries out to the nation of Israel to repent, to remove the strange gods from among them, and to cling to Him and Him alone.

And He is crying out to you and me. He doesn't want a single god in our heart that isn't Him. He doesn't want friends to be elevated above Him. He doesn't want family to be elevated above Him. He doesn't want you to be elevated above Him.

God wants priority, exclusivity.

God made you and He bought you. He deserves our worship, our devotion, our love, our consecration, our focus. He deserves to be the God of our lives. To be our Guide and Shepherd. To be our Lover.

But he will punish you if you ignore Him. He will bring his fury upon you like an unquenchable flame if you regard idols in your heart, if you don't return to Him. He will destroy the groves, He will destroy the temples. God will remove our friends, our family, our jobs, our possessions.


So, right now, get the crowbar out and pry the gods off the throne of your heart. And then get a hammer and destroy that throne. God brings with Him His throne. Don't allow other gods to take enthronement in your heart.

Do you have a family member that you are elevating above God? Commit to yourself, if not to God(But take heed to Eccl. 5:4-5), to spend time with God before spending time with them. Pray, read the Bible, focus on Him.

Do you have a friend(or friends) that consume your thoughts, your goals, your reasoning? Do you fear the loss of their friendship so much that you live on broken glass, making sure you don't do something to ruin the relationship, or making sure they don't all of a sudden hate you?
Spend time focusing on God. Write things down in a notebook if you desire. Think of His love, His mercy, His grace. Think of His pursuit of you. Think of His forgiveness, His power, His ever-presence.

Do you have a job that you would do anything for(giving up time with God and your family)? Do you constantly think about your job, wondering about your security, or wondering about how to get elevated in the commerce ladder? Do you spend endless hours in your job, even if you're away from your job-place?
Devote a day, or an hour, to thinking of God. Thinking how you can improve your walk with Him, how to grow. Think of ways you can enliven your Bible reading. Think of ways to begin your Bible reading.

There is no excuse for not reading your Bible, there is no excuse for not praying. God has given us EVERYTHING we need for life and godliness.


Cast away the idols in your life. Place God as God in your life. Focus on Him.

Right now, go and spend time with Him. Ignore your friends, ignore your family, ignore yourself. God is more important than all of them. Your true friends will not hate you for spending time with God, your family will understand. (Now, don't be extreme and isolate yourself from them for a long time, but don't let them distract you from spending time with God after reading this, or tomorrow, or the next day. Take a part of your day and isolate yourself, think only of God, read only of God, speak only to God.)

Friendships and family are far more prone to destruction and loss by placing them as top priority than they are by placing them underneath God's place of top priority.


The ball is in your(and my) court now. What will you(I) do? God has given warnings in His word, and has spoken to us through this nugget(For me, it is more or less life than it is reading an internet blog).

Will you make God your God right now, removing all other gods?
...Will I?

Growth will not happen by mere knowledge. It takes application. And application won't happen until you choose. And a choice will be made in a few moments. You will either make that first step to removing idols from your life and enthroning God in your heart, or you will neglect God and continue worshiping idols. No middle ground. No "I'll do it later"s. The first step is at your doorstep, will we answer God's call and return to Him, break up our fallow ground, seek Him, and worship Him?

The time to choose is now.