“Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” 1 John 5:21 NKJV
A Newsweek article many years ago (31/1/1983) told about how treasure hunters looking to make a huge profit were stealing rare idols from the Hopi reservation, a Native American reservation for the Hopi and Arizona Tewa people, surrounded entirely by the Navajo Nation, in Navajo and Coconino counties in north-eastern Arizona, United States. The worst theft happened in 1978, when looters took four ancient stick figures representing the most sacred deities of the Hopi religion. “Without the idols, there could be no Hopi rituals,” the article stated, “and without the rituals, the tribe’s spiritual life was in danger of extinction.” A tribal leader explained that these ceremonies “bring blessings in rainfall, bountiful crops, good health, long life. That is being lost to us.” What a sad description of idolatry! We make up our own gods and then use them to get what we want. The problem is these gods may be stolen and our way of life destroyed. If it can be taken from us, it isn’t the true God! Let us make sure that as we claim to follow Jesus Christ, as Saviour and Lord, Born again into the Kingdom of God, by the power and ministry of the Holy Spirit, we don’t fall into the idolatry of using Him to get what we want, or accepting the parts of Him that we like and rejecting the parts we don’t like. That is no different from pagan idolatry. “Little children” implies that we are vulnerable and weak. Let us guard ourselves from idols!
PRAYER THOUGHT
Lord, we worship You for who You are and not who we want You to be.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Holy Spirit, let us never fall into the idolatry of using our Lord to get what we want, nor accepting the parts of our Lord that we like and rejecting the parts we don’t like. AMEN
I.B.R.A. Readings
Acts 16:6-10
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