Happy New Year!! May 2018 bring us ever closer to God, in whom we find all of our love, joy and peace!

I’ve been thinking about the nature of idolatry because I was reading the book of Hosea this morning and here’s my summary of the nature of idolatry: It is wanting the tool more than what the tool is made to do. 

It is silly to want the tool more than what the tool is made to do. But we do this all the time! A car’s purpose is to take us from one point to another. But for some people, their love is for the car, which is a tool, more so than for its purpose. A camera’s purpose is to take pictures, but for some people, their focus is on the camera itself and collecting them. Money’s purpose is to buy and trade our goods essential for life, but for some, their focus is on collecting more of it even though it adds nothing to sustain their lives.

Wouldn’t you think it silly if a construction worker loved his hammer so much and spent all his time looking and polishing it that he forgets to build a house with it?

A family is a tool that points us to God. Focusing on the family and forgetting God is silly.

A marriage is a tool that points us to God. Making your spouse your ultimate is silly.

Nature is a tool that points us to God. Spending all our time in nature is silly.

Money, food, shelter are tools that point us to God. Making them our priority is silly.

But what is ultimately wrong with idolatry? It cannot satisfy. It cannot because it was not built to do that. Only God can completely satisfy. Use the tools – family, marriage, health, nature, money, etc – to get to God, to glorify God, and to draw closer to Him.

“And she (Israel) did not know that it was I (God) who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.” Hosea 2:8

Sin is making a good thing into an ultimate thing. Good things are only a tool to bring us to God. Don’t let a took become your God. It is silly.

PH