The God of Jacob – The One True God
“For I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.” Acts 17:23 NIV
My daughter was recently watching an Indiana Jones movie. In the movie, Indiana Jones was apparently chasing after an idol. Now, I have never watched any of those movies all the way through so I am not sure which movie it was or what idol he was chasing. What pleasantly surprised me, however, was that my daughter immediately questioned Indiana Jones chasing an idol and told me that we as believers in Christ are not supposed to do that. So in her seven year old language she wrote, “Do not worship the idol (whatever the name was), and worship only Jesus – the one true God.” I was thrilled that even though she was enjoying a fiction movie, she was not swayed in her convictions and was able to call on the truth. Chasing after idols in our own lives can cause us to drift away from God.
In Genesis, God gave Jacob the order to return to Bethel. Jacob chose, however, to be disobedient and bought land in the city of Shechem (Genesis 33:18-20). In the years that Jacob stayed in Shechem he and his family slowly began to buy into the pagan lifestyle and place other idols before God. For that time Jacob had his family in Shechem, they were out of God’s umbrella of protection and faced much difficulty because of it (read Genesis 34). Jacob, who God chooses to use as a name for himself – the God of Jacob – had begun to drift away from the Lord. He seemed close to God yet year after year in the city of Shechem, he began to drift away and his family began to set up other idols. In Genesis 35, God again tells Jacob to go to Bethel.
So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3 Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. 5 Then they set out, and the terror of God fell upon the towns all around them so that no one pursued them. Genesis 35:2-5
The original Greek word for the phrase “objects of worship” (in the verse in Acts above) is Sebasma which comes from the word, Sebazomai meaning, “Reverential awe, to worship religiously, denotes religious expressions of worship in particular as well as reverential behavior in general.” As the elect followers of Christ, we can agree that we only collectively worship Christ. We affirm that Jesus is the only way to heaven, the only one who can forgive our sins and only true God. However, like Jacob, we can begin to drift to the currents of the world and allow idol reverence to slip into our lives distancing ourselves from the Lord.
Our propensity towards idol worship can be found in many things: the internet, false theology that is man-centered, homes, cars, money, luxury, wealth, the praise of men or beauty. We make false idols out of anything that takes precedence in our lives over our relationship with Jesus. Our idols can be those things we spend the most time trying to gain or acquire – whatever the cost. It is like Harrison Ford’s character in those Indian Jones movies – spending our whole lives chasing things – idols — that everyone else wants. We can put our lives on the line and risk our family’s well being (just as Jacob did). However, our pursuit of that idol only limits and prohibits our spiritual growth and relationship with God. Whatever is taking the place of God is our lives needs to be cast down and surrendered to Jesus.
What things do you fill your mind with? Think about the music you listen to or the shows you watch or the books you read. Do these things build up your reverence of the Lord or do they fill your mind with unholy thoughts? Have any of these things become an idol in your life – taking a very important place that should only be filled with God?
Jacob certainly wasn’t perfect, yet he was the one God chose to establish the nation of Israel – his chosen people. As real and personal as God was to Jacob, Jacob still found himself submerged in a form of idolatry that let him drift away from God. Today is a great day to reexamine our lives and see what idols we need cast down and seek God’s forgiveness. He gave us everything and we owe him nothing less.
3 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ?
Who may stand in his holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false.
5 He will receive blessing from the LORD
and vindication from God his Savior.
6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, O God of Jacob.
Selah
Psalm 24:3-6
Father, in Jesus name, I come boldly to You and ask for forgiveness of the times I have knowingly and unknowingly allowed idols of worship in my life. Father, I pray for discernment and guidance, show me those things in my life that I have placed in high importance that need to be torn down. I want to submit to Your plan and will daily and not to the worldly plans to gain success. Thank you for your sacrifice of Jesus for me. And I pray your protection and peace on each woman who reads this today that we would all turn from our idol worship. In Jesus name. Amen.
Wonderful my friend, be blessed.
You are right Dana. Sometimes we let other ‘things’ distract us to follow His plans for our lives.
Thank you for the reminder that everything can become an idol if we let it.
Blessings to you and yours.
Thank you for the reminder, I try to watch what I watch, read and listen to because those voices can be so loud!
Thank you for entering me in your give away!
Jen
How right you are…We worship idols and don’t even realize it sometimes!
Please enter me today!
OUCH girl, but SOOO true! I think as wives and mom’s we make idols out of our families and don’t even realize it, calling it just being a “good” wife or mom. That’s tough.
Thanks for this GREAT post today and please ENTER ME.
Val
Praise God! We pray the hard prayer today- SHOW us the idols that we have placed before You in our lives! Show us when we put our husbands, our children, our work, our church responsibilities before YOU! YOU COME FIRST, Father God! We praise You and Your wisdom!!
In His Grip,
Sherry
ps, Please enter me! 🙂
Please enter me
Thanks you!
Thank you for this most wonderful devotional!
Blessings,
Julia
ps- Please “enter me” too! thanks!
I love that reminder to keep our ‘worship’ focused on the only One who is worthy. Great post.
please enter me again 🙂
Thanks for the blessings through your devotion & prayers!
Serving Him,
Kris
“please Enter Me”
thanks for the devotional – isn’t it wild what things can become idols in our lives?
Please enter me.
It is amazing how we acquire idols and hide them as such. The world gives us so much of it’s way and view and more often than we think it seeps in. I thank you for reminding me to reaccess my life and identify and get rid of idols. I want to fully worship and serve the only true and living God!
Enter Me
Lisa E.
Lord-I want to see life through Your eyes-to see if there is anything-“idols”-in the way of my fully following you.
In His Graces~Pamela
Enter me!!
I have found myself drifting away from God in seek of other idols and it is a scary thought to think what might have become of me if God had not had mercy on my and forgave me. It is so comforting to know that the God we serve is real and he is all that we need. There is nothing more important in this world than to be in his presence and to worship him and him only.
Thanks,
Angela
“enter me”
It’s a constant watch for me…this identification of idols. It requires an active participation…being careful to examine how I spend my time and what goes into my mind. As of late, it has included way too much time on the internet.
With that being said, thanks for the reminder via the “internet.” It can be a wonderful too that God uses to bless my life, but too much can become my obsession…my idol.
peace~elaine
please “enter me.”
I am proud of your daughter Dana. It really is so easy to get caught up in “idol worship”. It is sometimes so subtle we don’t recognize it. It can even be something “good”, but if it takes God out of His proper place in our hearts it is idolatry. Thank you for this very wise reminder.
I can make pretty much anything an idol, from my music, to my friends, to my gardening. It is always a good reminder to me to say to myself, “If this thing were taken away from me, could I still find joy in my life?” My answer should always be a resounding, “Yes!”
Blessings, Joanne
*************Please Enter Me*************
I love to see children apply what they learn about God.
Please ENTER ME today, thanks.
Great devotion. That also is my prayer!
Thank you.
Please “Enter Me”
Thank you for the wonderful reminder!
Mylah Luper-Johnson
“Enter Me”
Dana,
Thank you for the wonderful reminder to just stop and praise Him.
What a great thing your daughter did.
I agree with Elaine, the internet is such a blessing, but too much can become an idol. After reading this I was planning on getting my “to do list” done since it is a mile long. Right now I think would be a great time to just sit and read His word and pray.
Blessings to everyone who read your post today.
Please enter me. Thanks
Rachel
Amen! How sad and true that we can so easily allow our priorities to slowly shift and let other things (often GOOD things) or people come before our relationship with God. I’m so grateful that I serve the God of Jacob, the one who offers me a second chance when I don’t listen the first time.
(please enter me)
As I thought about your post, I was reminded of the verse that equates idolatry & stubbornness to witchcraft in God’s eyes. Not only do our “idols” take us away from the best things in our lives, but God hates them! And we’ve all got ’em. Thanks for the challenge today to examine our lives a bit closer.
What a Blessing that your daughter knows the truth, early in life!!!!!!
PLease ENTER ME!
I just love coming here to be encouraged! Please enter me, if I am not too late!
Kelley
That, my friend, is a prayer I could utter every day of my life.
(And I love that my children GET it way before I ever did. They inspire me to know that God loves me and has a better way!)
Enter me please.
Thank you for these daily inspirations.
They are so meaningful.
Blessings,
Denise A
Enter Me