by David Brenneman
"Not to us, O Lord, not to us, But to Your name give glory Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth. Why should the nations say, “Where, now, is their God?” But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, The work of man’s hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see; They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell; They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat. Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them. O Israel, trust in the Lord; He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord; He is their help and their shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord; He is their help and their shield. The Lord has been mindful of us; He will bless us; He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the Lord, The small together with the great." Psalms 115:1-13.
Reading this passage, in the Bible's heading it says "Heathen Idols Contrasted with the Lord".
King Solomon wrote over and over again that there's nothing new under the sun. This most certainly includes our world today. If we trust the Scriptures implicitly to be as true today as they were when written, believing that Jesus Christ is as the Word of God says-being the same yesterday, today and forever-then we must accept that which is taught about sin and sinful practices.
Paul wrote of the downward spiral of those who practice lawlessness, practice sin. People who may have come to Christ for salvation but hold onto their idols that have been in their lives. Yes my Dear Reader idols are ironically alive and well in 2025 as they were when Jesus walked the Earth as well as in the lives of those before and after the a Genesis flood.
I was reading today's passage and what immediately came to mind as a singular example are mascots for sports teams. We also have them as supposed 'super heroes'. We have them as people erroneously high and lifted up called celebrities. People everywhere are obsessed with their idols. People even idolize musicians still today. People idolize their offspring. People put things, imaginary things, AI chatbots, AI relationships, movies, streaming, gaming, and everything else under the sun before a vibrant right relationship with Jesus.
Those within the Church are not exempt from these temptations. Paul exhorts his readers to not be entangled in the things of the world. The race to be ran as his example sets, describing a runner of his day, had nothing on his body to slow him down. He spoke of soldiers. Soldiers didn't encumber themselves with the things of civilian life.
Jesus, as if all these teachings were not enough, said that if we loved anything more than Him that we weren't worthy of Him.
Jesus said to take up our own cross and follow Him. As repeatedly said before, bearing your own cross means you cannot hold onto anything else nor can anything be on your back to accompany you.
We cannot live a life that is pleasing to God in Christ Jesus if we're having Him set down somewhere else while we give our time, energy and attention to our idols.
Self examination is required and it also requires a second opinion from one whom we implicitly trust. Ask the Spirit to show you what's hindering your relationship with Jesus. He WILL show you the truth because Truth is a firm part of the character of Christ Jesus.
We make every effort to make wonderful sounding excuses about the things we include in our lives that the Bible says have taken our attention, time, money, away from Jesus and is sitting somewhere else.
All those excuses will turn to ash when we give an account of our lives before Jesus.
Read that slowly again and soak it up.
All those excuses will turn to ash when we give an account of our lives before Jesus.
If what is getting our love and devotion isn't aligned with the plan and purpose for us in Christ Jesus...then why are we holding onto it?
A few posts back we looked at the thousand year reign of Christ on the Earth. All these things we looked at today will be removed from the Earth during those years. ALL.
People will be living a wholly different life than has happened since Adam and Eve. No forms of idolatry will be found anywhere on the Earth in that thousand years.
We are to be growing in the character of Christ as a Believer in Christ.
Would Christ be ever putting anything before His relationship with His Father?
If He certainly wouldn't then why are we?
Why are we.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
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