FAMIDOLATRY

In church circles “idols” are bad, and looked at as a problem. In Old Testament times, idols were easy to identify: they were mostly statues that represented any god other than the One true God. Today, “idols” are much harder to identify. Let’s then begin with a simple definition: an idol is anything that diverts or gets our attention that belongs to God; so anything that we put between God and ourselves, agreed?

Let’s face the truth here: we all have idols; we just prefer not to talk about them. Idols of success, career, belongings, etc., you know what I am talking about here, right? What about the idol of family and children? Wait a minute here, that is sacred ground and not an idol. Is it? Remember, an idol is anything we put in between God and ourselves.

We don’t have to get very far into the Bible before we see this exact thing happen to Abraham (Gen. 22). Abraham was a faithful man who loved God and believed God’s promises without question. But one promise was a bit of a stretch for a man of his age (almost 100 years old at the time): the promise of descendants more numerous than could be counted. You see at the time of this promise, he and his wife were apparently barren. So when God’s promise was fulfilled (and there has never been one that wasn’t) through Isaac, they were overjoyed to say the least, and it didn’t take long to start to love Isaac over the One who gave Isaac to them. It’s the old out-of-sight out-of-mind thing.

All too often when it comes to the promises of God, we are quick to appreciate and experience the promise over the God who gave it. That is why it’s not hard to put our families first, especially our children. But when we put our children first, what happens to them when they get into the world without us? They have been first in your world for so long they are often expecting to be first out there too. I am not in any way saying that our family should not come first; they should, right after we give thanks and glory to the One who gave us the family.

In His grip,

Pastor Pat