Yesterday we talked about finding a new standard of what it means to live out this walk with Jesus, today we’re going to examine our lives to see if there is anything holding us back.
Read Joshua 24:14-25 and re-write this in your own words
Did you notice a sort of back and forth between Joshua and the nation of Israel? Joshua would tell them to put away their idols, and they’d say that they didn’t have any. Joshua would respond with something like “no seriously, put your idols away, quit it” and time after time the people respond by denying that they have idols. Basically the people are worshipping other idols and Joshua is calling them out on it, but time after time they deny. Now one of two things is happening here. Either the people are lying or they’re completely ignorant and don’t realize that they are worshipping other idols.
This raises the question for us, what other idols do we have in our life that we don’t even know that we have? For the ancient Hebrews, they may not have realized that some of these idols were really bad. For some they were simply a way to be more productive.
For example Ba’al and Asherah were both god’s of fertility. In those days each nation had a different god (the idea of one God was completely foreign). So after Israel has a few terrible seasons with no harvest, maybe they look at what the other nations are doing and begin to do the things that they do. What if they begin to have a good harvest? All of a sudden this idol is a tool for farming.
So what are the idols in our lives that we may not recognize? What are the things that consume our time and devotion?
Today pray that God would reveal the idols in your life that may be easy to overlook.
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