Are we Guilty of Idolatry?

A clear picture of idolatry in scripture is the Exodus 32 record about the golden calf.

This story is more than a message that pagans, perverts, and addicts need to hear; it's religious folk like you and I also need to hear and learn from it.

When God looked down from the mountain and found His people had crafted the golden calf, He wasn’t simply witnessing immoral living. He saw a people He had chosen that had taken His good gifts and used them against Him. While it's not explicitly stated in the text, the gold the Israelites used to make the calf was intended for God’s purposes. Later in the story, we see the leftover gold is used for the building of the tabernacle. Just think about that for a minute. The Israelites used God's gift for their own selfish purposes.

In creating the golden calf, the people had committed high treason. Even though the true God had always proven Himself faithful, they just couldn’t wait for Him any longer. They needed a God that met them on their terms, a God of their choosing that they could define and control. We’re so quick to judge those primitive, control-addicted Israelites. What we miss in those people is the control exerted on people by organizations who use people for their philosophical belief system.

Are we guilty of using God’s gifts for our own selfish purposes?

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