"And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.
Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.
Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me."
Hosea 13:2-4
This is a good reminder that there is no other god or savior besides God. Although we aren't usually as obvious about making and worshipping man-made idols in our day, I think we often are just as bad with the things that we place as the focus of our lives, making them in essence our idols. Sometimes it is a person, sometimes it is a thing, like a computer, car, job title, house, or hobby... sometimes it is an aspect of ourselves, like our weight, our gender, our romantic attractions, our abilities or talents, our appearance, power, or popularity, or sometimes it is a sin. When it comes down to it, anything that we value more than we value God, or anything that we place at the top of our priority list over God, that is the very definition of an idol.
As God tells us here, all of these things that are so important to us now are as insubstantial as the dew or as smoke. Idols don't have power and they aren't going to last. They shouldn't be the most important things in our lives. People matter, of course, but placing even a person before God throws our lives off, and we hurt both ourselves AND that person, because we are expecting them to fill a hole the size of eternity, that only God *can* fill.
God will make up for any and every loss that we experience because we are putting him first. ... That doesn't mean of course that we should neglect our families and jobs, but it does mean that our honest sacrifices for God's sake will be swallowed up in joy and blessings as we move forward and make God the center of our lives.
Today, let's take a look at our lives and think about what things might be becoming the idols in our lives. Let's re-evaluate and, if needed, restore God to that top position in our lives, where he should always be.
Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.
Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me."
Hosea 13:2-4
This is a good reminder that there is no other god or savior besides God. Although we aren't usually as obvious about making and worshipping man-made idols in our day, I think we often are just as bad with the things that we place as the focus of our lives, making them in essence our idols. Sometimes it is a person, sometimes it is a thing, like a computer, car, job title, house, or hobby... sometimes it is an aspect of ourselves, like our weight, our gender, our romantic attractions, our abilities or talents, our appearance, power, or popularity, or sometimes it is a sin. When it comes down to it, anything that we value more than we value God, or anything that we place at the top of our priority list over God, that is the very definition of an idol.
As God tells us here, all of these things that are so important to us now are as insubstantial as the dew or as smoke. Idols don't have power and they aren't going to last. They shouldn't be the most important things in our lives. People matter, of course, but placing even a person before God throws our lives off, and we hurt both ourselves AND that person, because we are expecting them to fill a hole the size of eternity, that only God *can* fill.
God will make up for any and every loss that we experience because we are putting him first. ... That doesn't mean of course that we should neglect our families and jobs, but it does mean that our honest sacrifices for God's sake will be swallowed up in joy and blessings as we move forward and make God the center of our lives.
Today, let's take a look at our lives and think about what things might be becoming the idols in our lives. Let's re-evaluate and, if needed, restore God to that top position in our lives, where he should always be.
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