No Other Gods - Week 1 Day 2

Day 2 of this study takes us to
2Kings 17:41 Even while these people were worshiping the Lord, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their ancestors did.

The study uses the first part of the verse about how we can worship God at the same time that we are serving our idols.  But when I read the whole verse I saw the part about how their children continued on that path.  I want to correct this in my life so that my children do not have to follow the same path.  This is my purpose, my mission is to train my children to know God.  Suddenly this whole study has a new light shining on it, doesn't it?!  Let's keep going....

In 2Kings 17 verses 14 and 15 there was something that I pulled out to relate to how I see many Christians today.

v14 But they would not listen... (to the prophets warning them not to have idols)
v15 ...They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.”

There are so many people who claim to be Christians, they may even regularly attend church. But in fact they are still very much caught up in the world.  They are hearing the Word but they are not listening to it and are not walking out their faith.  Instead, they are caught up in the world, following or imitating what the world is doing rather than truly following Christ. 

Read verse 15 again...It is saying that anytime we are not following Christ we are following the world or in the Bible's words, we are pursuing worthless idols and are therefore worthless.  Ouch!  Well that certainly is a big stomp on my toes.  How about you?  Does that give you a big ol'kick to get your attention?  Let's keep digging...and growing!

Next we look at what we do when we are focusing on an idol.
2Kings 17:35-36
35 When the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them: “Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them. 36 But the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt with mighty power and outstretched arm, is the one you must worship. To him you shall bow down and to him offer sacrifices.

There are 4 "do not's" in these verses
Do not worship
Do not bow down
Do not serve
Do not sacrifice

These are all "churchy" words.  What does this really mean though?  What does it look like if we are doing these?  The study asked if there was a progression building in these actions.  Here is what I think....

Worship - this what we are paying attention to, something that has captured our attention and when we worship we are starting to really focus in on it.  Worship is adoration, it is special to us.

Bow down - Now our focus has really shifted, we are truly focusing our thoughts on it to the point that other things are no longer important or we have lost our focus on those other things

Serve - here we see a shift from maybe a focus of our thoughts to a focus of our time and efforts.  Whatever we are focused on is now also consuming our time and efforts.

Sacrifice - beyond just our thoughts and time, when we sacrifice it costs us something.  You are giving up something valuable, a piece of yourself, your resources, etc.


Where our focus is, that should be where we serve and where we sacrifice.  So where is your focus?  This should be a first clue to where you may have an idol.