Idols Are Cheats

Idolatry is a vicious cycle. The worshipper defies the commandments of God to not have any other gods, and makes a graven image out of wood, gold, or some other material substance. Then there sits their idol. Cold. Lifeless. Powerless. Deaf. 

If you look at the second commandment, and then notice the idols, you might quip, “They must not have gotten the memo.” But though the idol itself sits there in deaf defiance of God’s commands, something terrible is occurring to the worshipper. They are becoming just like their idol. They’ve traded the source of all being, life, and pleasure for an impotent, blind, deaf, and stupid block of stuff.

Idols are cheats. They promise joy, pleasure, and blessing. But they demand that you sacrifice your joy, pleasure, and blessings to them. They demand that you shed your blood to make them happy. 

Is your idol gold? Does your life revolve around the accumulation of material wealth, such that you sacrifice your family, your peace of mind, your integrity on its altar? Is your idol power? Do you kneel to kiss the toe-ring of upward-mobility, fearing what may occur if you lose your place in the pyramid of society? Is your idol sex? Do you believe the lie that gratification of that desire is yours by right, and thus you partake of the sacrament of consuming others bodies at the price of their shame and your so-called pleasure?

If you continue to worship these idols, you will soon be dead, deaf, and dumb. They cannot offer you life. They will only cheat you out of your joy. So, topple them. Grind them to powder. Burn them to the ground. As Spurgeon once said, “Down with all idols, up with King Jesus.”