One of the ten commandments tells us not have idols or any other gods.
Exodus 20:3 states that “You shall have no other gods before Me.” and Exodus 20:4-5 says, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image-any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God……

With this being shown we see that God is a jealous God and wants us to not make idols for ourselves and worship them. Sometimes we understand this at the surface. Yet in modern day times we often don’t realize how many different Idols we have in our lives. Phones, friends, spouses, children, celebrities, even our jobs. We so often have people and things that we invest so much time and energy into that we don’t realize how these things have taken control over our lives. We feel lost without these things, we fear losing these things to the point that we have made these idols our whole identities.

I remember a time where I “worshipped the ground” my husband walked on. I put him on a pedestal and gave him all my love, all my devotion, all of me. And while one would say this isn’t a bad thing; I gave none of that to God. God was not first and foremost. I relied on my Husband for guidance and answers, for stability and assurance, for all the things that I should have searched for in God. Again, none of these actions are bad if God is first in your life. But he was nowhere in mine. I had made my husband and our marriage an Idol. I worshipped him and our marriage as if it would fix everything broken inside of me. Unfortunately, it was a tall order and a heavy burden for my husband to bear. It was impossible because he was only human and imagine my surprise when he let me down. I had to learn that only God could fix me and my brokenness. I needed to put God first. Our marriage was supposed to be a testament to God’s love and bring Glory to him.

So often we think because we did not physically carve an idol out of an oak tree that we don’t have idols. Yet we spend hours scrolling social media and watching television. We devote large parts of our lives to different things while giving the bare minimum and sometimes nothing to God. We could all learn to make time for God and learn to put him first and foremost in our lives.

What is an idol in your life? How can we make changes that put our focus back on God? I pray you find some clarity in this message and find a way to give God the time to lead and guide you. For God is so wonderful and merciful. May you see what changes can occur in your life if only you turn to God for all your needs.