Leviticus chapter 26.
God wanted his people to obey all his commands and laws but in this chapter he highlights two of them: have no idols and keep the Sabbath. I would like to highlight the one on having no idols which actually affects how we live out “Keeping the Sabbath.”
Having no idols means we don't elevate anything above the Lord. Good and positive things can slowly become a god where we end up investing more of our heart into it versus into the Lord. Slowly we spend more of our time and thoughts on other things versus with God. We begin to elevate a hobby, a ministry, a job, or a relationship over God. I see it in my heart. I see it in life. I can remember being consumed with a relationship where I just wanted to be with this person. My thoughts were constantly on this person and was striving to think of how I could spend the next minutes or day with that individual. Can you imagine how strong our relationship with God would be if we thought that about him every day. But instead I'd sacrifice my time with God for this relationship. It can happen so easily even with our hobbies, sports, and our money. These things become so important to us that God becomes less and less a value in our heart.
How can we tell if we have an idol in our heart? There are probably many ways or many symptoms that we can reflect on but I'm going to mention three areas of our life that will break down if we have an idol.
1. Our quiet time with God decreases or nearly ends. The habit of reading our Bible stops. And once it stops it's difficult to make it a priority again.
2. We no longer attend church. It's a gradual process. We miss a couple weeks here and there but eventually it stops because the idol in our lives becomes our priority.
3. Our fellowship with other Christians decreases. We find ourselves spending less time with Christians, maybe because we feel convicted around them, and we start to hang out with non-Christians because we like the attention, or the pleasures of the world. We begin to compromise in areas we said we would never compromise. It could be drinking, drugs, swearing, sexual immorality, etc.
The symptoms never happen overnight. It's a slow process. It never goes from One Day saying, “I will not have an idol my life,” to the next day saying, “I love this idol over God.” It's a slow process when our minds gradually make excuses why we missed our time with God or why we missed church or why we compromised in an area that we said we never would. The process is so slow that we have plenty of time to make up excuses until eventually our heart and behavior have changed drastically. Do I have an idol in my life? I can see how easy it is to have an idol. I have to check myself all the time.
1. Am I in the word?
2. Am I committed to a body of believers, the church?
3. Am I fellowshipping with other believers or am I consumed more with unbelievers?
Once you find yourself starting to make excuses, beware!
We have been reading about many rules and requirements throughout Leviticus. We arrive at Chapter 26 and it tells us more about what the blessings of obedience are while also revealing what the consequences are for disobedience.
I don’t know about everyone else, but the benefits of obeying sound so good compared to the terrible punishment for disobeying. It makes me think that someone would have to be crazy to disobey and yet I realize that we just don’t measure up on our own. I fail right along with the rest of humanity even if there may be good intentions of doing what is right. Pastor Blair has nailed it again in saying to watch out for excuses! There’s a tendency to try to make excuses for our behavior instead of confessing our sin and getting right with God. That goes all the way back to the garden of Eden when Adam & Eve were trying to pin the blame somewhere besides themselves instead of taking responsibility for their own actions. I’m thinking today about what Paul wrote in Romans 7 about the law of God and the law of sin. Only Jesus can rescue us and help us to be more like Him.
I feel like this chapter and the comments made really speak to me again about my time on my cellphone, specifically social media. I know that when i let go of this idol in my life, the quality of life that I will have will be much like the rewards promised in this chapter. Continuing to be on it, for the amount of time that I currently spend on it, is really resulting in the negative effects that are described, of course not to the extent, but definitely a deteriorating effect on my mind and life. As I read this chapter I felt a pull on my heart to delete to apps that I currently see as social media idols in my life.
I’ve allowed enough excuses to come into my mind over it… oh, I’m keeping in touch with far away relatives… or I am supporting my friendships… researching new teaching methods… but really it was all just an EXCUSE. And my heart slowly begins to compare, to covet, to become depressed, to become more interested in a life on my phone than my current reality. It pulls me away from my son, my husband, my students, family and friends.
Because as Blair you mentioned, if it’s coming before my time with God, it is an idol. And Jim, as you said, it is certainly NOT worth the consequences of continuing it, compared to the rewards of letting it go.
I pray we can all look at our lives, decide what we are making an idol over God, and take the steps necessary to remove it from our lives.
The Word of God in Leviticus speaks to us today … if you walk in My Law, you’ll be blessed. If you wander from My Law, you’ll be burned. But even if you’re in captivity – know this – I have not forsaken you for I am with you always. I am so thankful that our Father is patient, slow to anger, and full of mercy!