Bible Reading: Psalm 81
“There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shall thou worship any strange god” – Psalm 81:9(KJV).
Most often we think that bowing before idols is the only worshipping of other gods. This is not entirely true. Idol worshipping is actually the worship of other gods but it goes beyond that. You can be in the church and be worshipping a strange god. That thing you value or hold to be more important than your commitment to God is a strange god. Whatever comes before God in your life is an idol and your commitment to it is worship.
In many ways people have placed their allegiance to many things in their life above God unknowingly. Let us be real and examine our lives. Is God first in our life? It may be easy to just answer yes, but in actual fact it is not so. For example, some believers’ work comes first before God. Especially in a recession where there are no jobs, how many will resign their job other than being compelled by the demand of their job to sin? How many compromises have been done by some believers in order to retain their job? When a certain sin dominates your life it is your strange god. For example gold bracelets and ornaments are so dear to some sisters that they can commit adultery just to have it. To some the beauty of the body is of greater importance than their commitment to God. What of a brother who compromises his Christian faith for riches? How many believers can stand in the place of a lure for big financial gain? What of the brother who will not attend service because his favourite club is engaged in a crucial match. Has soccer not become his strange god? These are strange gods we worship. Most of these strange gods can be in form of money, sex, beauty, the flesh, soccer, ego, pride, human etc. Whatever that takes the place of God in our life is a strange god.
We must become true to our faith by looking inward to thoroughly examine ourselves in order to ensure that nothing stands between us and God. Our God is all seeing and all knowing, nothing is hidden from him, even to the depth of our heart he knows. When most of our thoughts are dominated by money issue, sexuality, what we put on, then we must carry out a complete purging of our inner man with the blood of Jesus. Hebrews 9:14(KJV) “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God”.
What do you hold so dear that even sinning against God cannot stop you from doing? Watch out! That is a strange god taking over your life! We must know that our God is a jealous God “For thou shall worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God” – Exodus 34:14(KJV).
Let us thoroughly examine ourselves to ensure that every unsuspecting idol is removed from our lives for us to have God as first in all things and have an unhindered worship of our God.
Prayer: O God my father, let your fire burn off all strange gods in my life. Give me the grace to place you first in my life.
Bro. Joel Ezeugo