"Guard Yourselves From Idols"

  John ends his letter with this: "Little children, guard yourselves from idols." (I John 5:21) That is such a foreign concept to us simply because we have difficulty identifying 'idols' in our day and time. 

  God called Israel to have no other God but Me! God had earned that place in the lives of His people because He alone was their Rescuer and Redeemer. This Almighty God had acted on their behalf. He stood alone in delivering them. The people were a mess and a handful to deal with. Constantly over and over they rebelled always seeking other gods for their means of protection and assurance. But God had it all under His control. He had arranged for His people a place of refuge, down in Egypt during a great famine that hit the world. He blessed them over and over. This Egyptian nation had been their refuge and their refuge turned against them. God came to their rescue to lead them to a place of their own, (a land flowing with milk and honey), which He prepared for them for centuries. The people panicked upon leaving Egypt with no army and God provided protection with fire and water as their salvation (Exodus 14). There were no other gods. What God could they put in the place of Jehovah? They did nothing to deliver themselves. There was no question or doubting God was their God and He wasn't going to allow any other god, no idol, to be before Him in the eyes of His people.

  Today the temptation of "other gods" is more real than ever. Look around. Have you seen a greater time where people felt alone in striving against nations, diseases, evil, and simple existence? Where is assurance going to come from? Who is going to feed and clothe humanity? Man does this on his own to some extent thinking this is the answer. We have become the idols. People put their trust in government, man's abilities, schooling, and smarts. The church turns to these kind of idols and you see it in worship and daily living. We praise man. We make our assemblies about man. We honor man and God gets shifted to the background. He's alluded to, but has a limited space in our thinking and life. It sometimes seems that many believe they rescued themselves. They are enlightened by their own knowledge and secure in their own beliefs from man's source. Little is seen in Jehovah God any longer. We do things from our own brain and brawn while worshiping...US!

  Israel had seen the working of God and His rescue. They trembled with helplessness watching some of the greatest war machines come up against them, only to be protected by the power of God. They felt desperation and despair only to see God and stand in assurance. He had it all under control. And what do we say? Why are we drawn into so many fears and trying to find assurance from man? We glance from time to time at Jesus but many times with little thought. Jesus Christ the Lord was God's answer for man. Jesus Christ is the rescue from our sins. The Christ is God's wisdom and God's power and found nowhere else. The Lord Jesus Christ is the assurance of a heavenly home and that all things will end at His side. Why are all these other idols coming into play?