Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, August 19, 2020
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
We’re not just talking about a bull or a ram or some fertility god statue. An idol is anything we put between ourselves and God. Anything that directs our attention away from what God would have us be. It could be money, things, mind-altering substances, people, sports, video games, etc. None of these things is necessarily bad in and of itself. The problem is when we put those things in the place of God. When difficulties strike and we turn to these things instead of to the only one who can actually help.
Food used to be my idol. I ate compulsively to check out of my own life, shove down difficult emotions, avoid responsibility. It was my go-to under any and all circumstances. God? God was busy doing other things. I needed a Dairy Queen blizzard to take the edge off. Then I’d be fine on my own.
Sixteen years into a disciplined recovery program for food addiction, I accept that food is just fuel for my body. It has no curative or divine properties. It’s in its proper place and God is in God’s. I have to be vigilant, of course. There are plenty of other things that I can put in God’s place, often without even being aware of it. I am grateful for the tools of self-examination and prayer that help me not to put other gods before God.
Do I have idols in my life I might not be aware of?
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