Read: Judges 3:1-11

My beloved, flee from idolatry.
-1 Corinthians 10:14

If you were to spend 26 hours a week staring at the
same object, what would you call that? If you were so
mesmerized by what you saw that you couldn’t tear
yourself away from it, what would it become to you? If
you let it change the way you think and act, would it be
too powerful? If you let this object show and tell you
things that you knew were wrong and that God didn’t want
you to be involved with, would it be replacing Him?
Wouldn’t that be called an idol?

The average American family spends 26 hours a week
watching television. It certainly isn’t the only idol
we have in our society, but it’s one of the most
powerful. Other things that might be displacing our
devotion to God are sports, money, work, hobbies, or
even other people. Perhaps music or movies or the
Internet has captured our devotion.

Idols come in various forms, and they can control our
lives. When they do, we need to look again at God’s
anger with the Israelites to see what He thinks of
idols. They served Baals and Asheras (Jud. 3:7), and
“the anger of the Lord was hot” against them (v.8).

Let’s check our devotion. Have we given our
allegiance to anything other than the Almighty God who
created us? We should serve nothing but Him.
-J. David Branon

The gods of this world are empty and vain,
They cannot give peace to our heart;
The living and true One deserves all our love –
From Him may we never depart. -DJD

AN IDOL IS ANYTHING THAT TAKES THE PLACE OF GOD.

OUR DAILY BREAD, Copyright 1999 by Radio Bible Class,
Grand Rapids,Michigan. Used by permission.