Getting rid of your idols

Read Judges 10:6-16

I help teach our Middle School "Grounded" class. Grounded is a walk through the Bible and some important Church doctrine.

Currently, we are going over the Judges and Kings of Israel. With the Judges a pattern that is often repeated goes something like this:

1. Israel sins and worship other gods and idols
2. God allows Israel and their faithlessness to be overtaken by an enemy
3. Israel learns their lesson, gets rid of the idols and cries out to the Lord for help
4. God hears their cry and helps them by sending a Judge to defeat their enemies
5. After victory, they live in peace for X amount of years until that Judge dies
6. Repeat steps 1-5

The reading in Judges 10:6-16 is very similar to this pattern.

The key point that I would like to discuss is pattern #3 where Israel learns their lesson, gets rid of the idols and cries to God for help. Obviously today we do not have idols or false gods such as Baal or whatever else the Israelites worshiped back then. But, we do have idols that take our focus off of Christ and onto something else.

Some current day idols could be our friends, alcohol, drugs, money, fame, a TV show, facebook or other social media outlets, or even our iPhones. Again, an idol is whatever takes our focus off of Christ. Do you have an idol?

Well, if you do, I want to encourage you to take the next step, as Israel did - get rid of your idols. See, they worshipped other idols and it didn't quite work out for them. So, they had to get right with the Lord again. In order to do that, they had to first get rid of the idols. I'm not saying that a requirement for God to help you means you have to get rid of your idols, but that is what is constantly demonstrated with the Israelites. Plus, how can we completely turn our focus on the Lord if we have our idols still with us? Get rid of your idols whatever they may be.

We have to get rid of the idols that hinder our relationship with Christ. Christ said that he has come to give us life to the full (John 10:10). How can he possibly do that if we are turning to other things as well?

My encouragement for you all today is:

• examine your life. Do you have idols that are hindering what God wants to do in your life? If so,
• Get rid of all the idols that are doing that. Throw them out or do whatever you have to do get into a position where God can minister to you and provide a life that is full (please note - I said full which does not necessarily mean fun or prosperous).

God will always provide, but not necessarily in the ways we think he "should" or will. Throw out your idols and turn your focus on Christ. Then, see how he provides.