July 30, 2025 -Idols in the Church

JEREMIAH 2:23-5:19

Chronological Bible Readings

Jeremiah 2:27 They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’

    and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’

They have turned their backs to me

    and not their faces;

yet when they are in trouble, they say,

    ‘Come and save us!’

This takes me back to yesterday's post. Idols in the church are things that become more important to us than God. Things that keep us from listening to what He would have us do. When we're looking at those idols we are turning our back to God. Even though He is still there we can't see Him and hear from Him because we have turned our back to Him blinding us to what He would have us do. As I thought about the kind of idols we can set up in the church the only thing that kept coming to mind was tradition and people. If we are seeking God's face for direction in decisions as we should, He will reveal Himself and His will. But sometimes the decision He is pointing us to may not fall in line with what our traditions have been or what the people in the church would like. When we put so much value on our traditions and the opinions of people we are turning our backs on God. As soon as we say, "That's not how we usually do things", or "That might upset someone" as a response to what the Lord may be leading us toward, we are turning our backs. Whenever there is a disagreement on what to do, if we shut down someone else's ideas using those kinds of words we stop seeking His truth. Instead, everyone should turn their face to Him and seek confirmation. When things are difficult and we are in trouble we are more likely to turn our faces to Him because those things are out of our understanding and control. But for decisions that we feel capable of making it is easier to fall into a rut of how things have been done and cast a vote based on that instead of seeking unity. It's easier to not make waves but sometimes we are being called to be wave makers. Removing these words/"idols" from the church can be for us like the removal of the high places and Asherah poles of the Old Testament times. We are human and we will not do any of this perfectly. But even when a king failed to remove all the high places but removed Asherah poles or vice versa, God honored that. It was always seen as them doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He honors our hearts and I am so grateful for that because my head and mouth don't always line up with my heart.