IN SEARCH OF MY IDOL

So what is your idol?  Or should I ask who is your idol?  

Idols are something we deal with on a daily basis.  Every winter we watch and even vote for who will be the next "American Idol", we look forward to this competition because it is entertaining, but it can also be very consuming.  2 to 3 days a week we set our TV to record it because we don't want to miss a moment.  Some of us schedule our life around it.  Still some have parties on the nights it's on.  Seriously?

 Okay maybe it's the "Bachelor" or "Bachelorette" shows that we schedule our life around.  Now guys you can't point fingers at girls who do this because how many of you record sports events or schedule your life around a sport event you don't want to miss?  I know my husband records it so he can watch it without commercials.  Football, golf, basketball, baseball, soccer, boxing, hockey, whatever sport that is your thing can become an idol.

Look at the stars on TV and the movie screen, singers and musicians, also sports top players can quickly become idols.  Hollywood is full of ordinary men and women who act for a living.  It's their job to entertain us and for that we begin to idolize them.  Paparazzi chase them down with cameras to stare into their private life because we want to know all about them.  What they're doing and who their with, is what we seek to discover.  

Okay how about food?  Can food be an idol?  Heck yea!  There are some people who simply have to have the best food, a gourmet chef, a five course meal or the old comfort foods of home.  Food isn't just nutrition to some people, it is an experience.  The food that is prepared shows some how much they are loved.  

I'm sorry but this stuff gets me!!!  Are we for real?  Are we seriously putting all this nonsense in front of the God who created all our food?  Are we putting off going to church because there is a football game on TV?  Are we brushing aside our Bibles for romance novels and murder mysteries?  Are putting God on a shelf because we have something more important to do?  After all God will always be there, we can come back later, right? 

1 John 5:21 (Amplified)  Little children, keep yourselves from idols (false gods)--[from anything and everything that would occupy the place in your heart due to God, from any sort of substitute for Him that would take first place in your life]. Amen (so let it be). 

I love the Amplified version of this verse because it defines what an idol is.  I used to have idols.  I absolutely loved murder mysteries.   TV and book murder mysteries were my idols.  By the time I went to bed I was too tired for God.  Recently games on my I pad became my idols.  I would play and play for hours instead of reading a good book about getting closer to God or blowing the dust off my Bible so I could read that.

Listen there is nothing or no one (at least there shouldn't be) who is more important than God.  I have discovered that the more time I spend with Him, the more time I spend getting to know Him and His Son Jesus, the better my life has been.  Less drama, less conflict, less turmoil are some of the side effects of getting rid of your idols.  

For me my peace returns, my fear dissipates, my smile returns and my eating returns to a more healthy eating.  When my heart is full of the presence of God, my life becomes richer, not financially, but richer in love and joy.  

My idol now, is Jesus Christ!  He is my everything!  My hopes, my dreams, my health, my joy and my happiness rests in Him alone.   Through Him I have the promise of eternity, why wouldn't I have Him as my idol?

So today, I pray that your truthfully search your heart, your home, your refrigerator and your TV to see who or what is your idol.  Now you have to get real with this and be 100% honest, not with me but with yourself.

Lord, forgive me for the idols I have placed ahead of you.  Today I surrender all my idols to you.  Today I chose you as my idol.  Fill my heart, my soul and my mind with your presence, your words and your light, in Jesus name I pray, amen!