Posted on 01/03/2008 7:25:06 AM PST by NYer
That is not so.
Great point. I think it goes further, it keeps us from replacing GOD with a false god.
Ex. 20:5 You shall not bow down to them nor serve them.
The last part of the sentence is what I'm referring to "nor serve them."
What’s even more incredible is when you consider how quickly and utterly we can fall into the snare of idolatry.
Growing up, listening to Sunday School lessons, I thought it only meant if you made a statue in your backyard and literally bowed down to it.
Having been saved in my late 20’s, it was a tremendous blessing to see the whole length, breadth, and depth of that commandment beat out in my mind. Idolatry of the heart is SO prevalent, and it doesn’t take much to find a new idol, to bow down to it, and serve it with your thoughts and actions.
Whether it’s papists crowding around a dead man’s bones asking it to pray for them, a methodist walking back into the bar “just one more time”, or a protestant only going to church if he can wear jeans, it’s all idolatry of the self.
It just goes to show how dreadfully wicked our hearts truly are.
Do I long to see him face to face? As Owen says "if not now never".
Praise GOD.
It's such a blessing to be able to look back and say "I was saved".
it doesn’t take much to find a new idol, to bow down to it, and serve it with your thoughts and actions.
Isn't interesting that the first 4 commandments all point us back to GOD? It isn't until the 5th commandment that we are told how to live with other people.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
I checked you out on your bio; saw "not the part but the whole" & concluded you are real - not that you need my OK.
>Whether it’s papists crowding around a dead man’s bones asking it to pray for them, a methodist walking back into the bar “just one more time”, or a protestant only going to church if he can wear jeans, it’s all idolatry of the self.
What bit me to the bone a while back, was listening to Piper in one of his Romans sermons hitting on how many make their children and family into an idol, where they allow their family to slip between them and God. Ouch! Not that it is not important to face your responsibilities to your family, but when they become more important then the adoration that He deserves and demands.
God before all else.
“Let the dead bury the dead...”
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