WEDNESDAY

2 Kings 17:24-39

• How can people worship God but still continue worshiping their old idols? Do you do this?

When I was a kid, I thought of idols exclusively as big, golden statues that needed to be polished and cleaned. I thought of worshiping idols as bowing down to this massive sculpture, humming hymns and reciting meditations.

What I know now is that an idol can be far less sophisticated than that. An idol can be clothing. It can be reputation. It can be success. An idol is anything that you worship. And worship, too, is different than I thought it was. Worship isn’t necessarily lifting our hands, praying, or singing praises. Worship is anything that gets a disproportionate amount of your attention. I realized in my teens that I was worshiping the way I looked by fixating on it every waking second of my day. So I worked on it. And I continue to work on it. By the way, the world is always in favor of you worshiping things like your looks, success, popularity, etcetera. Because the world will make money off of your worship!

So how do we worship God and only God? I think some of the best advice comes from the old song “Turn your Eyes upon Jesus.” Today, identify your idols, and make an effort to turn your eyes away from them. Instead, turn your eyes upon Jesus.