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Where’s Your Devotion?

By Taffi L. Dollar

Published: September 13, 2011

Anti-Idolizing
“We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” (1 John 5:19-21)

When you worship someone or something, you make them the first priority and final authority in your life. If watching sports is your idol, then you set your priorities and arrange your life around sports. The moment you get off work all you can think about is getting home and turning on ESPN, getting to the baseball field to watch your favorite team play, or coaching your son or daughter’s soccer team. There is nothing wrong with any of these things unless they have taken over your life and become an idol, taking the place of God in your life. If God is truly your God, then He is always the first thing on your mind and the One who always has your whole heart. You set your priorities and arrange your life by His Word and the leading of His Spirit. It’s really just that simple.

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating. Going to church a couple of times a week is not giving God first priority in your life. You cannot go to church and worship God with a passion, live like the world the rest of the time, and keep yourself from worshipping idols. If you think and speak and live like the world, you will be devoted to the things the world is devoted to. The world loves and is devoted to a lot of things that can distract you from God and even oppose God. That’s why we are warned again and again to guard our hearts and minds from the world.

To keep yourself from idols, you must keep your heart and mind from being captured by anything and anyone other than Jesus Christ. He must always be your first love. You can love other people. You can enjoy all kinds of activities. You can even spend time with unbelievers and work in the world. You can do all this if Jesus remains your first love and none of these other people or things grab your heart the way He does.

You may profess that God is your first priority on Sunday, but is that profession reflected in your lifestyle on Monday? Do you wake up and throw a fit if your wife doesn’t have the coffee made? Do you walk into your office and snap at those under your authority but act all courteous and compliant to your boss? If you are doing these things or anything like them, you are probably spending more time with other interests than you are with God. Just going to church on Sunday will not cut it! It is an illusion to think that you are following Christ unless you are manifesting His love and walking in the Spirit at home and at work—not just at church.

In 1 John 2:15 it says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” I have never heard anyone on their deathbed talk about their car, their newspaper, or their office and say, “Just let me see it one more time!” That is because the things of this world are not eternal, and they do not matter in light of the eternal life and love we have in Jesus. If we are completely wrapped up in the love of God, we will not get tangled up in and idolize the things of this world.

The world will never satisfy the deep longings and needs of our souls. We can climb the corporate ladder to success, and the world may make a big fuss over us, but it never fulfills us. It is never what we thought it would be. And how much did we have to compromise or lose in order to get there? I used to think that it took money to do everything. It doesn’t take money. A day of God’s favor will put you light years ahead of what it takes others a lifetime of struggle to obtain.

When we put God first we will keep ourselves from idols, and everything else will be in order. Our family will be in order, and we won’t have to neglect them and compromise our beliefs to be successful. God wants us to keep ourselves from idols because He has the best plan, the best way, and the greatest blessings to give us.

First John 5:20 says that Jesus came and gave us an understanding of these things “that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true.” This is a powerful statement. We literally abide and live and operate in Him who is true. Therefore, we can discern the lies of the enemy, the deceptions and distractions of the world, and anything else that would try to draw us away from God and bring us into the bondage of idolatry. Being in Jesus we can live like Jesus, who was in the world but not of the world, because we have His understanding.

This article is an excerpt from Taffi Dollar’s book, “Your Spiritual Makeover: Experiencing the Beauty of a Balanced Life”

© Taffi L. Dollar. All rights reserved.

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