What in your life is keeping you from Me? Is it worth it?

First John 5:21

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

The Heart, an Idol Factory

I don’t know about you, but my heart is an idol factory. All too often I put things ahead of Christ. I place entertainment above the Bible. I talk to my friends more than God. Do you see what I mean? When the Apostle John told the church to keep themselves from idols, he didn’t mean the little icon, carved images that they were worshipping. No, I believe John was writing about those things that take the place of God, where we place our value in them above God. Money is a good example of an idol, and it can surely keep us from God. Money can take the place of God by being our security, having our needs provided for, and depending on it instead of depending on God. When our time with other things far outdistances time spent with God, then it’s keeping us from God. We all tend to gravitate to the flesh and not the Spirit. What in my life is keeping me from God? Is it really worth it? How about you?

What Is Idolatry?

Idolatry can be anything that is placed in value above God. Paul says that it could be “fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Col. 3:5). Paul says that these are all idols because they are placed ahead of God and keep us from God, and none of them are ever worth it. In fact, nothing is worth keeping us from God. God commands us to have no other gods before Him (Ex. 20:3). So if we place our money, job, wife, children, grandchildren, sports, movies, the Internet, TV, drugs, alcohol, hobbies, or anything else above God, it will surely keep us from Him because He is a jealous God. Not jealous in the terms that humans understand jealousy; He wants and deserves our first loyalty. Everything else on this Earth will be burned up someday, anyway (2 Pet. 3:10). The thing is, if we seek Him and His kingdom first, He promises to provide all of our needs (Matt. 6:33), and that’s enough, isn’t it?

What’s Your Idol?

I would ask myself this same question as you can ask yourself.  What’s your idol? What is it that is keeping us from a more intimate relationship with Christ? What is it that we’re placing more time and treasure in than God? Is there something in our lives that’s keeping us from God? God has the privilege of giving and taking away (Job 1:21), and if we insist on putting things or people in front of Him, He could well take them away. Ask yourself as I ask myself, what is my idol? What is it in our lives mine that is keeping us from God? Then ask, is it really worth it? The answer to that rhetorical question is obviously no!

A Closing Prayer

Great God in heaven, thank You for Your patience with me when I put other things or people ahead of You. Please forgive me for that and help me to identify them by seeing how much time and money I put into them compared to the incomparable riches that are found in Your Great Son, Jesus Christ, in Whose precious name I pray.

Amen