“All who serve idols are put to shame, who glory in worthless things; all gods bow down before Him.” – Psalm 97:7, NAB

A story is told of a man who eventually bought his dream car, which was the envy of all his friends.

A day later, his young son, playing around the car, scribbled on the vehicle with a stone.

Enraged at the boy for the damage he had done to the prized limousine, the father repeatedly hit his son’s hand with a hammer so much that it had to be amputated.

Much later when the father checked the ca, his son had written the words; “I love you dad.”

As the years went by, the man suffered deep humiliation; haunted by the agony his son went through due to the extreme punishment meted out on the one who deeply loved him as a person.

The man’s obsession with his material possession had led him to make an irreversible and deeply damaging decision, showing the catastrophic consequences of letting material wealth overshadow the things that really matter.

Though not to such an extreme, we’ve all been there, haven’t we?

In our meditation today, the Bible says that all who serve idols are put to shame, who glory in worthless things.

The First Commandment says; “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth.”

May we never allow the focus of our love and devotion to be diverted from the eternal to the transient and temporary things of this world!

In reference to the people of God in the Old Testament, Psalm 106:36 says; “They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them.”

A snare is something that is hidden from view or appears harmless but when it captures an animal it is extremely difficult to escape from it or may cause permanent injury.

But idolatry is not confined to ancient practices; it persists in the modern era through our obsession with material and personal gain.

In our modern world, idolatry is not just the worship of statues but the glorification of wealth, power, and fame above Christ.

Idolatry is not merely the worship of statues but the placing of any human or material thing in the place of God.

Some people idolize their loved ones, some their bodies or jobs or professions or material possessions; some idolize sports or entertainment or knowledge or education, etc.

I once had a boss who called himself an ‘atheist’ yet he literally worships knowledge!

By the way, even your church or ministry or ‘man of God’ or Mary or the martyrs could be an idol before you and God hates it when anything takes His place.

The essence of idolatry is the desire to elevate something or someone to a divine status.

It is the ultimate perversion of truth, where we worship the created rather than the Creator.

It is the worst form of distortion of devotion as it diverts our focus from the eternal to the transient.

Anything that occupies the place of God in our hearts and minds is an idol, for idolatry begins when we attribute divine attributes to the created things rather than the Almighty Creator.

Everything we are; everything we do; everything we own must be made to bow down before Christ.

Otherwise however long it might take, all who serve idols who glory in worthless things would be exposed to face humiliation, shame and embarrassment not only in this world but even in the one to come.

May we never allow the focus of our love and devotion to be diverted from the eternal to the transient and temporary things of this world. Amen!