Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. 1 John 5:21
Apostle John concluded his first letter with a warning in this verse to keep away from idols. Many gentiles had converted to Christianity in the first Century. These believers were surrounded on every side by objects of pagan worship and religious things that were of equal importance with God or substituted for Him. They were taught to worship the one true God and not the false gods they had been worshipping. In this verse Apostle John is addressing those believers as “Little children” which does not mean literally but rather the entire body of Christ, the Church.
An idol is anything that takes the place of God and separates us from God. God takes our idolatry seriously because He is a (z)jealous God. God is not one god among many. He is the only true God and the only good God. Our way out of idolatry and into the fullness of Christ is by confessing our idols, and He will replace our idols with himself. 1 John 1:7 says “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”