American Idol“You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3) On July 30, 2002 the hit Fox TV show American Idol: The Search for a Superstar, registered a whopping 12 million viewers! This shows the moral decay in America and the world today as many of us idolize rock stars like Billy Idol, rap stars like Kid Rock who calls himself Devil Without a Cause, movie stars, singers like Jewel, Neil Diamond, Eddie Money and Johnny Cash, supermodels like Tyra Banks, athletes and scores of other celebrities. An idol is anything that comes between a person and God. An idol can be any carved image made of wood or stone, but it can also be money, sex, possessions, business, entertainment, relationships, or anything else that we hold dear, that we put first on the throne of our lives, separating us from God and His perfect will. Materialism is the greatest form of idolatry today with hedonism, the pursuit of pleasure by whatever means, a close second. Many of us bow down to the god of materialism, with our focus on making money and acquiring things, thinking that wealth is the key to happiness. Many more are consumed with this pursuit to the exclusion of giving and tithing to support the preaching of the gospel as we are called to do and developing a close relationship with God. The rich young ruler in Matthew 19 came to Jesus asking, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus told him, “Keep the commandments. The rich young ruler responded, “All these I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” Jesus said, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow Me.” When he heard that, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. The rich young ruler, like many of us, had no problem with the Ten Commandments except for the first one “You shall have no other gods before Me”. The love of money was the idol that he had placed before God and because of that, he did not inherit eternal life. Elvis may be the King, Michael Jackson the King of Pop, and Burger King may give you a Whopper of a time, but Jesus is the King of kings. Jesus Christ is our Superstar, He is the Bright and Morning Star. Why search for a superstar when we already have one? Why be Like Mike or rap like Bow Wow when we can be Like God? God further spoke against idolatry through Isaiah, ‘I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is NO God’” (Isaiah 44:6). Let us therefore cast down all of our idols and put God FIRST above everything and everyone. Let us submit to God and His Word, placing our trust in Him and let us never be guilty of putting anything or anyone above Him for He is the One, True God. Copyright © 2002 Eddy Ministries. All rights reserved. Subscribe/Unsubscribe:
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