Idol

 Idol

 

Anything or anyone we treat as more important than God 

 

“Football is my favourite! It’s all I ever want to do.”

“Sophie is my best friend. I pretty much do whatever she does.”

Maybe you’ve said something like that before. It’s great to have favourite activities and best friends! But the Bible says we have to be careful to never love anything or anyone more than we love God. If we do, we’re actually worshiping something other than Him. 

When God was first teaching the Israelites how to live, they were surrounded by people who worshipped idols – fake gods. Sometimes the idols were gold statues. God said, “Never worship fake gods.” Why? “Because,” He said, “I am the one true God.”

God is more powerful than anyone else. He is the One who created everything. He loves people, listens to them, and takes care of them. Could an idol do any of that? No way!

Idols look different these days. They’re things we spend a lot of time thinking about or doing. They could be the stuff we have (like toys), activities (like games, TV, sports, or music), or people (like friends or famous people). If we ever act like something is more important than God, we're treating it like an idol. For example, maybe we want to skip church to play football, or maybe we make fun of someone just because our friends are doing it.

If we say God is the most important, then we won't let anything stop us from showing Him love. After all, nobody else is God. He is the one true God!

 

 

1Kings 18

 

Once, when the Israelites were worshipping idols, Elijah said to the king, “Let’s have a contest – your idol against my God.” The king agreed. On a mountaintop, Elijah and the king's men built altars, or special places to offer gifts to their gods. Then they took turns praying for their gods to send fire. When the king's men went first, nothing happened. When Elijah prayed, God threw down so much fire from heaven that it burned up Elijah’s altar and everything around it! Everybody could see that God is the one true God. 

 

 

Pour some juice in a glass. Then pour some water in a second glass and add some food colouring so it looks like the juice. Have someone blindfold you. Then take a sip from each glass. Even though they look similar, you can taste the difference right away! That coloured water is ‘fake juice’, just like idols are fake gods. 

 

 

God, I want to worship only You, the one true God.