Idols

Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, "THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY." 1 Cor 10:7 (NASB)

I'm not sure I'm very thrilled about the challenge laid before me not only for today but for the rest of the week.  I honestly thought I was done with 1 Cor 10:1-11, but yesterday the Lord slowed me back down.  There was a very strong impression that there was more to these verses than I had processed through, and I needed to stay with them for a while.  So, yesterday I read them again.  Then today.  And today I very distinctly felt the challenge to carefully consider 1 Cor 10:7-10 and evaluate it in comparison to my life.

Today the focus is on verse 7 and on idolatry.  This is a subject I would love to gloss over with the gleeful naivety of one who can limit idolatry to the Biblical picture of bowing down to images made of gold, silver, stone, or wood.  But, truthfully I have many idols.  If God called me to pick up and move to the ends of the earth to fulfill my one goal of glorifying Him, what things would tie me down?  Even beyond the physical possessions, what emotional ties would bring me anxiety in such a situation?  Those things - physical, emotional, and otherwise - are my idols. 

The beauty is that God does not want to strip me of all that is pleasurable.  On the contrary, He desires my full and complete freedom to enjoy the pleasures He has given me.  And He knows full well that my freedom will not come until my life is stripped of idols.  Will I surrender them freely or have them taken from me?  Will I utilize the tools of this world without being tied to them?  Will I love freely and passionately without being hindered from service by that love? 

In light of these questions, I embark on the challenge that will begin today and end when I meet my Creator face to face: to identify and put aside the idols that are hindering my full and complete allegiance to Christ and then live in freedom from those idols.