Idols

https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/06/places-of-the-heart

I had touched on this subject of idols in our hearts in one of my early posts in this blog https://ronnielim.com/2021/08/27/subtle-idolatry/. The thinking then was that although it is inconceivable for a modern practising Christian to openly worship idols, it is possible that we may subtly keep idols in our hearts. While such idols could be a form of idolatry, I still maintain the belief that even if we do have such idols subtly in our hearts, we are not breaching the First Commandment of not having other gods besides the God Almighty. One of the ways to ensure we are living within the parameters of the First Commandment is to always depend on God in our daily lives. As we put our trust and rely on God, we make the LORD the centre of our lives, and we thus seek to live in the centre of His will.

Some people are just obsessed with fishing. While others are crazy over cars. There are others who are into photography and cameras or music and musical instruments. Nowadays, many are glued to social media, keeping abreast with the happenings in the world while marvelling at the lives of celebrities and influencers (a new term and possibly vocation birthed by social media itself!). At the same time, we are updated on the events or travels of our family, relatives, friends, acquaintances, and work colleagues. Are our interests or even obsessions subtle idolatry? Do such things replace God in our hearts? Do they draw us away from God?

I think we have to be careful and reconsider our level of involvement if such pursuits compromise our faith or our service in His Kingdom or distract us from our calling in God. If not, I don’t think it’s an issue – even a minister of God may have an interest outside Kingdom affairs to cultivate a balanced life.

But we must draw the line if our pursuits are at the edges of spiritualism or in that realm. For example, if we are obsessed with the occultic or the spirit world or dabble with witchcraft, astrology, or feng shui. Those are all red lines as they bring us into the spiritual realm but from the other side. These are like the Baal and Asherah of the ancient world, the world of Elijah versus Jezzebel. Precisely, the reason for the First Commandment and thus a clear violation of it if we were to be partakers in that realm.

We are entitled to have interests outside the Kingdom of God. We are unquestionably faithful and fervent servants of God even if we like to watch animals in documentaries or Korean soap operas or Marvel movies or dabble in macro photography. But “out of body” meditation or conversing with the spiritworld are not things we should participate in. We can not have one foot in the light and the other in darkness. In the spiritual realm, angelic beings like seraphims and cherubims battle Satan and his demonic forces. It is a clear-cut fight for the souls of humanity, and we can only stand with God or against Him. As children of the light, why do we want to stand with darkness against the light?