Take the Long Way Home

I know you all thought I was dead, but I’m very much alive, just very busy and so not blogging!  But something struck me at Bible Study this morning that I had to get down on paper because I was afraid I would forget it!

Deuteronomy 4:16-19
Be strictly on your guard, therefore, not to degrade yourselves by fashioning an idol to represent any figure, whether it be the form of a man or of a woman, of any animal on the earth or of any bird that flies in the sky, of anything that crawls on the ground or of any fish in the waters under the earth.  And when you look up to the heavens and behold the sun or the moon or any star among the heavenly hosts, do not be led astray into adoring them and serving them.  These the Lord your God has let fall to the lot of all other nations under the heavens

How does fashioning an idol in any of these forms degrade humanity?  Go back and look at the creation account in Genesis 1.  God creates the earth, the sun and moon, the land and sea creatures and birds and then he creates man.  He gives man dominion over all these other creations - so man rules, has power over, mastery of the earth, the sun and moon, the land and sea creatures and birds.  If man then fashions a “god” in any of these forms he is giving up his position of dominance and mastery and giving it to a subordinate!  He is making a “god” out of a subordinate creation!  Man, in the image of God, is given dominion and is told to conquer the earth and subdue it.  It is therefore degrading to man to be conquered by the creation that he supposed to subdue. 

Since we don’t typically make ourselves idols out of wood and stone we like to take these verses and think of the idols we have in our lives - money, success, people we love - we can turn pretty much anything into an idol.  We are told in the New Testament to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, put to death the deeds of the flesh, to be dead to sin and alive to Christ (there are many many more examples, but you get the picture).  We are to conquer and subdue sin in our lives (with the help of the Spirit of course).  When we allow a sin - pride, lust, greed, etc - to rule us and become our idol, we have degraded ourselves.  We have dominion and mastery through Christ! 

There is more that could be said, but I’m out of time!