The children of Israel started to serve the goddess Asherah and the god Baal and worshipped them along with their neighbors. These ceremonies often had sacred prostitution and from time to time child sacrifice. They even started to marry outside the Nation of Israel and this further diluted their faithfulness to God. Slowly but surely they began to wander away and loose faith in God. This desire to worship idols continued even during the period of 'Kings' until they went into captivity in Babylon. By the time they returned from exile they had been more or less weaned from Baal and Asherah.
Today, do we have idols of our own that we worship? Are there any visible objects that we hold closer to us than we do God? Is there someone or something we adore excessively? How do we ensure that we stay away from worship of the powerful people who are idolized for their achievement and success today? We need to be careful that nothing, no idol, draws us away from our worship and service to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
When St. Paul was in Ephesus, he confronted the businessmen who made idols for the Greek goddess Artemis. This goddess worship started in 1000 BC and was a mixture of Roman, Anatolian, and Greek values. The businessmen started a riot in the city when they found that the sales of idols were dropping. Was not the courage of St. Paul amazing? He displayed No Fear? Do we have the courage to defy the system when we see that it is heading in the wrong direction? Many people’s feelings were affected by St. Paul’s stance on the gospel message and the true and only God. Even today for some religion is run like a regular business. The priests that serve in the temples and churches to raise funds step down and compromise on their principles.
Corruption is often rampant in some churches where the leaders’ lifestyles are like those of the rich and famous. They lead lives that are contrary to the life that Christ led and advocated to his disciples. God today is portrayed as a God of prosperity and wealth. A God who is worshipped to heap gold in their coffers. A God who will bless them with more talents to make more wealth. Christ said emphatically in Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Are you so proud of your own achievements and unwilling to give God credit? Where does one draw the line and say 'this is enough for me'? When does one look at his hurting neighbor and say 'let me give you a part of my life to make yours a better one'? When does one say 'it is time I spent more time to know and understand the ways of God'? Do we hear the gospel message being praised? Or do we hear that God will save all? Has the grace of God been a means for many to continue their libertine lifestyles? Do you hear the voice of Christ calling you to come and serve him?
Christ talks about Spiritual Vision when he says in Matthew 6:22, The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. Christ really lays out a question here – when we look at our goals are they focused on God and what He wants us to do or on what we want and what the world has as reward? Christ said that He is the Light of the World and that we should be focused on Him to guide and lead us. If we are focused on Him, the single eye (single mind) will allow the light of the world (Jesus) to flood into our hearts & minds.
2 comments:
People want a god in their heart. If Jesus is not placed there others take His place. Rarely other gods but often ideas and self created images that becomes our goals or gods.
Christ leads us to an analogy more within the reach of our senses, that we may not be confused. He has already spoken of the mind as enslaved in captivity. Now he shifts his attention to the eye and to lessons on outward things lying directly before our eyes, so that we might grasp it easily and that we may learn from the body what we did not learn from the mind. For what the mind is to the soul, the eye is to the body.
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