By David ReayTuesday 22 Oct 2019LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 2 minutes
And the Lord said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: You saw for yourselves that I spoke to you from heaven. Remember, you must not make any idols of silver or gold to rival me. (NLT)
When we read of Bible passages which forbid the making of metallic idols, we tend to shake our heads at the superstitious and foolish nonsense of those who reckon there is something divine about precious metals and the forms they take.
Then again, people of all ages are liable to create their own divinities. It is still possible to give ultimate value to precious metals and other material commodities. And it is even more likely that we make up a god of our own imagination. We fashion a god in our minds that suits us, who conforms to our prejudices, who shares our opinions.
Even those who claim to worship the God of the Bible can distort this God so as to reshape him. Those on the political left claim him as their ally, as do those on the political right. He can be seen as a guardian of capitalism or the flag bearer of socialism. He is the one who really gets stuck in to the sins I particularly hate in others, and the one who goes easy on the sins I happen to commit.
Hear what Anne Lamott says about this: “You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” God made us in his image. We are not to make him in our own image.
Blessings
David