Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them. Deut. 11:16
The recurring theme throughout the Bible is God’s people struggle, God blesses them, they become prosperous, and then they depart from God. This endless cycle holds very true in the lives of many Christians today. One of the main reasons Christians drift away is because of the abundance provided by God. It’s no wonder that our omnipotent God provided a warning to Israelites and also to us to take heed to ourselves. Prophet Jeremiah writes ‘the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.’ King Solomon advised, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” The heart is a big problem and Satan knows our weakest spots and that’s where he chooses to tempt us. For Israel, it is worshiping false gods. Yet we all have “gods” of some kind that we struggle with. Anything that we make a higher priority than God, becomes a god. It could be money, food, power, position, hobbies, children, careers, possessions, or health. Even sleep could become a god when we choose to sleep in late on Sunday instead of going to church. All these things deceive us into thinking that our “god” will make us happy. But true joy is only found in a right relationship with God and in worshipping only Him.
Idolatry is when you worship what you should use, and use what you should worship.