27 January
Idolatry
Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me; There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god. I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
Psalm 81:8 to 10"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." That was the first commandment God gave His people in Exodus 20. And today, that commandment still stands. Serve the Lord God Almighty, and Him only wilt thou serve.
So many of us worship gods without even knowing it. God is very strict with His commandment. He is a jealous God. He delivered you from the hands of the enemy and redeemed you with the blood of Jesus because He loves you, and He wants you to worship Him only.
In the above verses, two things are clearly visible. Firstly, "there shall no strange god be in thee." We can have gods in our lives without even worshipping them or bowing before them. We make our parents or spouses our gods; others make money their god without realizing it. We may not necessarily be bowing before it, but when you start loving and following after money more than you love God, then money has become your god.
The second point is worshipping strange gods. In Matthew 6:24, we are told that "no man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." In Revelation we are told of the Laodicean church, which was found lukewarm. They had one foot in the world and one foot in the church. And what does the Word tell us? "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." You cannot have one foot in this world. You cannot sing rock music the one day and worship God the next with that same mouth.
Stop following after idols. Examine yourself. Are you putting the blessings of God and the things of this world before God?