Hello, As One! This devotional is submitted by Solomon Choi. I think it’s an excellent one!

Hidden Idols

“Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 19:4
If there was one commandment I thought I had figured out and never came close to violating when I was a child, it was the very first one: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”. Last time I checked, I never had golden calves or statues of Beelzebub in my room that I bowed before instead of God. So I always focused more on the ones to not steal or lie instead.

It wasn’t until much later when I realized that idols could be anything if you glorify that object more than God. The common examples that are given in sermons include money, fame, celebrities, television, and so on.

While these can be very dangerous things to idolize, perhaps the most dangerous idols in our lives are the ones we don’t even realize we idolize. Is that even possible? Ask yourself a few questions:
– Where does my time go? The things we idolize tend to be things we invest more of our time in.
– What do I find enjoyable? It doesn’t just have to be things that God explicitly states in the Bible that He is against. How does it affect your walk with God though?
– Who does it focus on? You yourself may very well be the idol in your life without realizing it.

I always knew that I spent perhaps a little more time surfing the web than the average person, but it wasn’t until I analyzed my history files and began budgeting my time more meticulously before I realized the severity of how much I idolized the Internet. Indeed, many of the things I try not to idolize probably fall under technology in some way.

“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” – 2 Corinthians 13:5

Funny how when I was younger, I focused on not stealing or lying. If I had just kept the one on not having any other gods before Him, I’d have focused on just the same (and a lot more).

Sincerely,
Solomon