Verse of the day: Genesis
35:4 So they gave Jacob all the
foreign gods which were in their hands, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the terebinth
tree which was by Shechem.
“You
shall have no other gods before me.” Does that command sound familiar? It
should. It is God’s command in Exodus 20:3. It is a command that still applies
to us today. An unforeseen consequence for what Jacob’s sons did when Simeon
and Levi murdered the men of the city and took their wives, children, and
material spoils. When they brought these people into their midst, and
intermingled with them, they brought their gods into the mix. There is a great
danger that lies in becoming a friend to the world. When we begin to desire the
things that the world tells us will bring us happiness, and satisfaction, we
begin to walk down a path that leads us away from our dependence on the Lord.
Ephesians 5:5 equates a covetous man to an idolater. Colossians 3:5 tells us
that immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, all amount to
idolatry. Philippians chapter 3 reminds us that we are citizens of Heaven and
are to avoid being enemies of the Cross, like those that the Apostle Paul wrote
about whose end is destruction because their bellies (or appetites) are their
gods. Like Jacob’s sons, when we chose to intermingle with the world, and allow
ourselves to be drawn into the lifestyle of gratifying our sinful appetites, we
allow those things, whether sex, alcohol, drugs, material wealth, or
relationships, to be our gods. We give them the place in our lives to satisfy
that which only God can satisfy for us in Christ. We turn to material gain for
happiness and joy, only to find out that money, and material gain, cannot
really satisfy; if that were so, people who have fame and fortune would not
commit suicide as often as they do. Drugs, alcohol, and sex, cannot satisfy our
need for acceptance, or cure our loneliness and need for feeling like we matter,
and have a purpose. Material gain and jewelry cannot make us any more talented than
we are or make us into someone that we are not. God tells us that we are
fearfully and wonderfully made, even without all the extra “dressings and
ornaments” (Psalm 139:14). Another person’s acceptance or rejection is not
where we should find our value. God makes no mistakes when He makes us who we
are. God made it clear to us that He loves us, and that we are valuable to Him,
when He gave us His Son, who died for us, even while we were yet His enemies
(Romans 5:8). Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we
should be called children of God (1 John 3:1)! As Jacob was now ready to move
his family, and those who were taken from the city, he first made sure that all
idols were removed from their midst. The wooden and stone idols, along with the
jewelry that was used in idol worship (Hosea 2:13), and buried them where he
knew they would not be dug up and used again. The terebinth tree, or oak, was
deemed a consecrated tree; therefore, it was not likely that anyone would cut
it down or dig around it for a very long time. This is exactly what we, who are
born again, must do with the idols in our lives; put them far away from us, or
put them where they belong in our lives. It is not a sin to have “things” or to
be in relationships. However, when those things become more important to us
than our relationship with Jesus, then they become idols. When a relationship
that can be a godly friendship becomes one to satisfy our fleshly desires and
appetites, or one that we turn to in order to satisfy that which God told us He
would satisfy, it becomes our idol. Even in marriage, we can put undue pressure
on our spouse to satisfy and meet needs that belong to the Lord. The bottom
line is that the Lord is the only One who should be Lord of our lives. Like Jacob,
we must cleanse our lives of idols if we are going to walk with the Lord, and
serve Him. Jesus, in response to Satan, in Matthew 4:10, said, “You shall
worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.”
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