All right, all right, all right. Matthew McConaughey took home the Oscar for best actor, in Dallas Buyers Club, another victory for anti-Christian agendas. Really? We deify our Hollywood gods and goddesses by coveting their fame, gleefully watching their shenanigans, and tolerating their aversion to marriage, horrifying violence, loose morals and filthy language. Psychologists assured us in the early years of film-making that the cinema would never undercut or shape American values. Ha! We have since learned better.
Timothy Keller, best-selling author of Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex and Power and the Only Hope that Matters defines idolatry in this way: “What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give…An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, ‘If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I ‘ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.’ There are many ways to describe that kind of relationship to something, but perhaps the best one is worship.”
I actually climbed to the summit of Mt. Olympus in Greece. Yep. Little ‘ole me. And guess what? I saw only jagged rocks and a little sand. There were no eternal gods and goddesses there that filled the pages of Greek mythology. No Zeus. No Athena. And gods and goddesses are non-existent today. Or are they? Yep. We have our little golden statues everywhere.
God HATES idolatry.
Idolatry conjures up images like the golden calf Aaron fashioned while Moses was busy taking dictation from God (the Ten Commandments). “High places” in Israel were filled with temple prostitutes. Fertility orgies took place in the name of god. Chemosh, the bloodthirsty god of Moab, demanded child sacrifices. All of these false deities were reverenced for a reason: security, good crops, fertility or wealth. No wonder God called Himself “jealous” and demanded we have no other gods before Him.
WE WORSHIP FALSE GODS ALL OF THE TIME.
What are those things that capture our heart more than God does? Possessions, careers, relationships, hobbies, sports, entertainment, goals, greed, addictions to alcohol/ drugs/ gambling/ pornography, etc.? They steal our hearts and bankrupt our souls. Scripture tells us that whatever we do, we are to “do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31), and that we are to serve God only (Deuteronomy 6:13). Unfortunately, God is often nowhere to be found as we zealously pursue our idols. Worse yet, the significant amount of time we often spend in these idolatrous pursuits leaves us with little or no time to spend with the Lord.
So we live out our days envying the rich and famous. We bend our morals, covet their fame and worship the pantheon of filthy rich Hollywood stars and emaciated starlets. We fill our time watching television, movies or social media until our brains turn to mush. Stop following Kim Kardashian on Twitter! Believe me, the brainless brunette with the large caboose has nothing to say!
God does. He has plenty to say to us. He promises us abundant lives, forgiveness from sin, and the hope of heaven.
The joys of this world will never satisfy us. King Solomon said it best. Apart from God, our life is vanity, a mist that disappears. (Ecclesiastes 1:1). We were created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27) and designed to worship and glorify Him. He alone is worthy of our worship. Jesus Christ is the only way to fill the vacuum of an empty life.
Timothy Keller: Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters) pp. xvii and xviii.
http://www.gotquestions.org/idol-worship.html#ixzz2vJJi6x3R
