Why Do God's People Turn to Idols?

Throughout history, the people of God have abandoned the Lord for idols. But why? Why would people who have experienced the grace of God turn to idols?

Part of the answer can be seen in the response of the rebellious men of Judah to the prophet Jeremiah's warning to them. They told him, "As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you. But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster. But since we left off making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine" (Jeremiah 44:16-18).

The ancient Jewish people refused to turn from idolatry back to the Lord, because at some point in their history, they had experienced comfort and prosperity in their idolatry. They had noticed the apparent success of their pagan neighbors. When times had become tough, they had decided to imitate their successful pagan neighbors. After all, if idolatry had worked for their neighbors, why would it not work for them?

Pragmatism, unbelief, greed, and envy combined to lead God's people away from their Savior. Unfortunately, it did not end well for them.

Since modern Christians often face a similar combination of temptations, we remain vulnerable to falling into idolatry, too.

In order to fight it successfully, we must be diligent in checking our motives, always remembering the apostle Paul's warning that "covetousness...is idolatry" (Colossians 3:5). If we can avoid envy, greed, and doubt in God, we can protect ourselves against the temptations of idolatry.

"Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:21).

Pure Religion

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world" (James 1:27).

James 1:27 is our family's latest memory verse.

As we have been working on memorizing it, we have had a few conversations about its meaning.

As I have looked at the Scripture, I have been struck by its first word: Religion. It refers to a devotion that ties one to God. James mentions that it can be pure and undefiled before God, implying that some religion can also be impure and defiled. It's been popular in recent decades to say, "Christianity isn't a religion. It's a relationship." I understand the sentiment, but I prefer James' way of looking at it. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, he sees Christianity as a religion that can be pure and undefiled. He sees the Christian faith as something good and wholesome...something that connects us to the Father in a very positive way.

Then the verse focuses on what makes this religion pure and undefiled.

First, it asserts that pure and undefiled religion cares about people in need, especially orphans and widows who have no one to care for them. An impure and defiled religion would ignore or minimize the needs of people who are suffering. But Christianity, in its purest form, is a faith that takes the needs of people seriously. We follow Christ when we visit someone in the hospital, adopt an orphan, make a phone call to a widow, spend a day with a disabled man, read the Bible to a child whose parents do not believe, or sponsor a child in a poverty-stricken country. Pure religion prompts us to care about people who are suffering to the point that we will take action.

Second, the Scripture states that pure and undefiled religion motivates us to keep ourselves unstained from the world. We can do this in a number of ways:

~By accepting the word of God with humility (James 1:21)
~By eliminating our prejudice against the poor (James 2:1-13)
~By putting our faith into action (James 2:14-26)
~By controlling our words (James 3:1-12)
~By replacing envy and selfish ambition with a godly perspective of peacefulness, gentleness, reasonableness, mercy, impartiality, sincerity, humility, fairness, patience, and good conduct (James 3-5)

This kind of religion is not only pure and undefiled; it's compelling.

Did You Know Some People Hate You?

This was our conversation in the car on the way home from church tonight.

Christopher: Dad, did you know some people hate you?

Me: Yeah, I'm sure that's true. Why did you ask that question?

Christopher: A boy at school hates me.

Me: Does he have a reason to hate you?

Christopher: He wants to play with Aiden, but Aiden doesn't want to play with him. Aiden wants to play with me instead.

Me: Oh. The other boy is jealous. That's also called envy. He wants something that you have, but he can't get it. He wants to play with Aiden, but Aiden wants to play with you instead of him...Could both you and Aiden play with that boy?

Christopher: He's the boy who hit me on the arm.

Janet: You don't have to play with him.

Me: No. You don't have to play with him. It's okay if some people hate you. Not everyone is going to like you. Not everyone likes me...and that's okay. You don't need to try to be liked by everyone.

Tomorrow, I think I'll bring this topic up again as we go over Christopher's latest memory verse ("Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse"--Romans 12:14).