The Second Commandment tells us that we are not to have idols, and it builds off the first, that we shall have no gods but the One True God. These are fundamental building blocks of our Christian faith, rules that we should not, under any circumstances, break.
But we do.
An idol is an image of anything in heaven or on earth that we bow down to and worship in the place of God. Think you've never had an idol? Let me ask you this: Have you ever respected anything, feared anything, depended on anything, or served anything more than God? Is there anything in your life that gets more of your time, thought, love, devotion, and energy than God? What do you think worship means?
Look at where your time, money, and focus go, and there you will find your god. If all those point to God Almighty, then you are in compliance with the first two of the Ten Commandments. If they point somewhere else, then there your idols lay.
Do I have your attention?
Every idol I've ever had has failed me.
Yes, I've broken the Second Commandment. I've had idols. Money was one. Not that I ever had a lot, and maybe because I didn't have a lot, I worshiped money. I bowed down to money like it was the source of all life and goodness. I sought money, desired money, needed money like the very air I breathe. I thought money would give me life.
It didn't.
Another idol I've had was control or authority. I thought that if I could just be in control of everything, everything would be just fine. The problem was, when I was in control, things didn't go as I wanted. Control let me down.
Fail.
My biggest idol, and the one I still struggle with at times, is myself. This one led to the fall of no other than Lucifer himself. Our culture has given self idolization a much less onerous name: Pride. We've made pride something to be proud of. We've not only elevated pride, but we've demonized humility. I thought that a man without pride wasn't a man at all.
Unfortunately, the more I learned about myself, the more I realized I had nothing to be proud about. I saw that my pride didn't lift me up, but rather held me down. My idol became my downfall.
Epic fail.
And so it is that every idol will fall.
God told us not to make an idol of anything on earth or in heaven. We have, in turn, taken everything on earth and in heaven and, at one point or another, turned them into idols. I'm not just talking about "bad" things, like pornography, alcoholism, or demon worship. I'm talking about things like our jobs, money, knowledge. Love, relationships, "happiness." None of these are bad, until they take the place of God.
That's when they become idols.
Here's the reality: Every idol will fall. When every knee bows, and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, all idols will be proven worthless. You can wait to do that on the day of judgment, if you choose, but be prepared to spend all of eternity separated from God in hell. That's reality.
Another reality is that long before then, anything you put in God's place will fail you. Money is not a god. Sex is not a god. No person, no thing, no idea, no emotion is a god. There is only one true God, and He is jealous. He does not tolerate anyone worshiping anyone or anything other than Him. Doing so incurs a stiff penalty: Failure.
If you put your faith in something other than God, as I have learned, you and that so-called god will fail. There is no god but God.
All my idols have fallen.
So also shall yours. When they do, if they are all that's holding you up, you're going to end up on the ground right next to them.
Or, worse yet, crushed beneath them.
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