Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones, even though they are not gods at all? Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols! [Jeremiah 2.11]
What does our "glorious God" do? He has promised to meet our every need, starting with forgiveness and from there, pouring out material blessings.
What do "worthless idols" do? They promise to meet our every need, starting with material blessings and from there, convincing us we don't need forgiveness.
The difference between God and idols is that God meets our eternal need first and foremost through repentance and subsequent forgiveness. Idols go straight to meeting temporal material needs first thus circumventing any need to repent.
Every material blessing God promised mankind was promised through the avenue of obedience or repentance (returning to obedience). On the other hand, the Bible defines material hardships as the result of disobedience thus causing man to desire "relief" from their effect. Worthless idols are anything and everything that promise this relief without the burden of repentance.
So, what do these idols that promise relief look like today? And, how do we worship them?
Worthless idols offer relief without repentance and are the works of man's efforts. They are sciences and systems designed for no other purpose than to meet man's needs - to give man relief from hardships. They ignore God and His clear Biblical association of hardships with sin, offering relief based simply on man's knowledge and skill in all things financial, physiological, and psychological. Worthless idols have changed their look through the ages, but the needs they meet (or promise to meet) have remained the same.
Early idols were worshiped for providing sunshine, rain, moonlight, harvests, fertility, wealth, health, and every perceived need of man EXCEPT forgiveness. Not one idol mentioned in the Bible offered forgiveness. This fact is not ironic because moral restraints are non-existent in most idol worship and repentance and forgiveness are unnecessary in their practice.
God, on the other hand, offers forgiveness for disobedience with the attached blessing of every perceivable need of man being met as a result. Deuteronomy 28 defines the blessings attached to man's obedience and repentance (repentance and obedience) and the curses caused by disobedience.
Idols today are far advanced from their original carved wood and stone predecessors. Worthless idols of today are highly technical creations of science, skill, and knowledge. We know them as "finance, insurance, medicine, and technology" Like their predecessors, these systems of man's ingenuity effectively provide temporary relief from what the Bible defines as curses. Although each of these systems comes at a cost, not a single one of them requires repentance as a requirement for their benefit.
Finance offers relief from poverty in the form of loans with costly interest thus binding man to its terms of payment.
Insurance offers relief from material loss in the form of costly fractional advance payments thus binding man to its terms of premiums.
Medicine offers relief from physical suffering in the form of costly drugs and treatments thus binding man to their terms of prescription.
Technology offers relief from physical and mental work in the form of costly gadgets and widgets, electronics and devices thus binding man to their terms of dependence.
Idols always demand something in return. And, even though they offer temporal relief, their benefit comes through costly bondage to their terms - a price most pay without conviction. Idols' preemptive avoidance of repentance is their assurance of their subjects' ongoing loyalty and homage. If God miraculously met people's needs simply through forgiveness, idols would have less attraction. So, they promote immorality, downplay the costs, and avoid discussion altogether about why the needs they meet even exist. Compared to God's way of obedience, idolatry is a scam.
The sciences of man's ingenuity are not evil in and of themselves. However, when people become beholding to them, those systems of man have effectively displaced God and set themselves as idols.
We should be challenged hereby to look around and see who or what is controlling society. We should be challenged to see who or what is controlling us! Is it finance, insurance, medicine and/or technology? Or, is it God?
Father, help us to break free from our willing bondage to man's systems. Help us see that our freedom is found in repentance and obedience to You, and that we are to pay loyalty and homage to no one but You!
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