Deuteronomy 12:29-16:17
Today Moses sets forth a zero-tolerance policy against idolatry:
- Don’t even inquire about how the soon-to-be-dispossessed nations serve their gods (Dt. 12:29-31)
- Execute any prophet that advocates going after other gods (Dt. 13:1-5)
- Execute even your closest loved one — friend or family — who entices you toward other gods (Dt. 13:6-11)
- Utterly devote to destruction any city or town that follows after other gods (Dt. 13:12-18)
Why such intolerance? Because the LORD loves His people. He desires to bless them. He desires that they have life. And life is found in relationship with Him. The greatest blessing anyone can have is the LORD Himself. Therefore, anything that gets in the way of a good relationship with God is unhealthy, destructive, deadly. So God moves to protect His people from that destruction.
Of course, any sin interferes with a good relationship with God. Any sin is unhealthy. But idolatry is especially so. It is the most egregious of sins — the most “in your face”. It is inherently a direct rejection of God and a turning toward something else in preference to Him. So the LORD — out of love for His people and to preserve their life — must deal most severely with anything that would draw His people away into idolatry.
Why then, are we so tolerant of idols in our own lives? No, I don’t imagine that many of us actively bow down to statues or sing songs of worship to Canaanite gods. That form of idolatry is long out of fashion. But I am quite certain that we each have our idols, things that keep us from wholehearted devotion to the LORD. Most such idols go unrecognized and unacknowledged, mainly because they are so dear to us that we do not even want to consider life without them and because we’ve been indoctrinated by our culture that our idols are either innocuous or even good. I won’t try to tell you what your idols might be. That’s for you to figure out in conversation with God. But here are a few of mine that I continually need to work to keep off their pedestals:
- Family
- Success
- Reputation
- Possessions
- Entertainment (or my “right” to a little R&R)
There is nothing inherently wrong with any of those things, especially family. I should indeed love and care for my family. I should indeed try to succeed (otherwise I will most certainly succeed in failing). But sometimes such things — even family — can be too dear, too important, and so interfere with my devotion to God. And that must not be so.