The first two commandments of the Ten Commandments are not to worship other gods or make idols. First off, we know an idol ain’t real, and as such other gods have no power. But why does God care if we worship him or not. Some people accuse God of wanting to be known as special and fall for satan’s trap. Remember satan’s name means accuser. Let’s explore why idols are bad, and why worshiping God comes down to a thing called logic.
First, let us look at friendship. The best friendship is one between you and someone you like hanging out with. You don’t hang out with the guy cuz you want to play with his transformers, video games or drink his wine. You don’t hang out with a girl just because you want to sleep with her. You hang out with em because they’re your friends. If a boy wants to hang out with a rich kid down the street to play on his computer while with his actual friends he make fun of how big of an unpopular rich nerd he is then you’re not a friend. He might call that kid nerd, but the nerd is way cooler than a false friend any day. So we conclude logically that the friendship is worth more than the stuff.
God can grant you any wish. God is in the business of granting both selfless and selfish wishes. I know this because God himself has sent me many many man miracles: www.goodnewsjim.com He even demanded I pray selfish once and I got what I wished for a bit begrudingly because I let God know that I only like to pray selfless. So make sure God knows your selfless prayers are infinitely more important than you selfish ones and you’re good to go. Though God can give you everything you wanted, we view God as a friend. Jesus called us friends. Since Jesus is our friend, his friendship is more valuable than his stuff that we concluded logically above. Now that we know Jesus can give us anything we pray for, and that he’s more valuable than that we conclude logically that Jesus is worth more than anything.
John 15:15 I do not call you servants any longer, because servants do not know what their master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because I have told you everything I heard from my Father.
I think most people following along can now see why an Idol is bad. If friendship is worth more than the stuff they have, and Jesus is the ulimate friend, worth more than anything he can grant… Then to give up friendship with Jesus in order to really want his stuff is offensive. An idolator ends up being like the disrespectful boy who wants to use someone for their toys, but then makes fun of that person behind their back as not their friend. Do not do this with God! Do not be an idolator. God forgives, but don’t do it. Just because God forgives does not give you a pass to do any evil you want, quite the contrary. Repentance means you’re sorry and want to not do evil anymore. Doing every evil you want and saying,”Jesus will forgive it!” is not being sorry at all so it isn’t repentant and you’re in danger of going to hell if you don’t at least TRY and listen to what God asks.
Matthew 7:24 “So then, anyone who hears these words of mine and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25 The rain poured down, the rivers flooded over, and the wind blew hard against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on rock. 26 “But anyone who hears these words of mine and does not obey them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain poured down, the rivers flooded over, the wind blew hard against that house, and it fell. And what a terrible fall that was! 28 When Jesus finished saying these things, the crowd was amazed at the way he taught. 29 He wasn’t like the teachers of the Law; instead, he taught with authority.
Listen to Jesus. He is the authority. He wants to help everyone. He wants us to work and help them in fact. He isn’t up there all pretentious wanting worship like an idol of a man’s imagination. He came down to be an honest blue collar worker like most of us, and help everyone as he shared in more shares of troubles than pretty much anyone. Jesus understands our troubles and what we’re going through. When we praise Jesus in our troubles, we’re saying,”Jesus! You’re such a good friend! I love you! Even pain and hardship, brother Jesus, even pain and hardship, we still love you. We love you for who you are, and not just the stuff you made!” In this, we worship God and not idols.
Praise Jesus forever. Love you bro. I love you for who you are, and not just the stuff you made. Thank you that I can be satisfied now, knowing you as a friend. I don’t need stuff now, just like you didn’t need stuff when you were down here, the coming Kingdom of Love is ours. So if I have you as a friend all the days of my life, that’s all I need. I know you reward the faithful. I know you gave Abraham a wife so smoking hot that he was afraid kings would kill him to take her off him. You gave Solomon a Kingdom of peace, more gold than most kingdoms ever, respect, fame and honor. God you grant us very very incredible selfish things better than we could have wished for by a genie… Except a genie ain’t real. Genies are idols and you have way more power anyway, and our best interests in mind. Praise Jesus forever. I love you for who you are, and not just the stuff you made. Jesus is LORD! Amen! Amen! Amen!