Idolatry Forbidden (Leviticus 19: 3-4)

Respect your father and your mother, honor the Sabbath, and don't make idols or images. I am the LORD your God.

It is interesting that in this text, God repeats his commandment about honoring father and mother just before he commands no other gods except for him. Honoring father and mother is the only commandment with a promise. If you honor father and mother, things will go well with you.
An idol is something that draws worship or priority over the LORD. In ancient times this took the form of molten images or cast objects that received worship in Yahweh's place. The golden calf is a good example of that kind of worship. In our days, however, not very many people worship molten images. A contemporary example of idolatry is games in the NFL or the Superbowl. If the Superbowl takes priority over going to church and confessing your sins on a Sunday, the Superbowl is indeed a modern day idol. It seems that Americans don't even feel guilty about this important commandment. They even fashion hit shows such as American Idol where people go all out to be seen as important and the crowd, you and I, encourage them by giving hotty approval to them. This is seen ad deplorable to a holy god. God cares about our motivations even more than the actions we take.

Daily Prayer: Father I do find myself in these compramising positions. Even though I know better, I don't call it idolary even though it is. Father forgive me. Father, in addition to forgiving me and setting me back on the path, change my heart so that with you as my all-in-all will find no worldly competition. In your holy name I pray Amen.