Our Golden Calves

“Dear Children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.” 1 John 5:21

For forty days and forty nights, Moses was on Mount Sinai. In addition to the Ten Commandments we are all familiar with, God gave Moses instructions on offerings, how to build a tabernacle, the clothing for the priests, how the priests would be dedicated, who would build the tabernacle, and how they were to keep the Sabbath.

Meanwhile, back at the farm, Israel was growing impatient.

Finally deciding that Moses wasn’t coming back, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “Make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.”

So Aaron gathered gold from the people and molded it into a golden calf. The people were excited about their new god who had taken the place of the One True God. They even worshipped it as if it was God Himself.

It’s easy for you and me to read this story and see how ridiculous it is. How could they allow a golden calf to take God’s place in their hearts? Yet hundreds of years later, John is writing to the church, urging God’s people then (and now) to keep away from anything that might take God’s place in our hearts.

Our golden calves may not be so obvious, but anything that we revere more than God is an idol taking the place in our hearts that rightfully belongs to Him. Work can be an idol. Family can be an idol. Relationships can become idols. Hobbies. Interests. Music. Sports. These can all become golden calves if we are not careful.

You see, God doesn’t just want to be at the top of your list when it comes to things you worship, He wants to be the only one on it.