you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. 25 You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.
God gives Moses and the people a promise concerning the place He has prepared for them. But part of this promise relates to the dealing with false gods and idols already in that land.
God can not and will not abide along with false gods. Therefore the charge for the Israelites was “you need to get rid of them, one by one”. They were commanded:
1. Don’t bow down to them – the enemy loves nothing more than the worship of created things rather than the creator, God. There is only one to whom we should bow and He is alone in being uncreated and without peer.
2. Don’t serve them – don’t ever believe their gods are a means to an end for you. Don’t seek to use what everyone else uses to fulfil their needs in life. Instead, look to me, God says.
3. Do not do as they do – naively, many Christians seek to live just like everyone else without any understanding of the Word. Mimicking the world because we think “the Bible says nothing about that” betrays God’s desire that we give ourselves to Him 100%. Doing that means adopting a way of life that is more allied to God and His values than the world and its.
PRAYER: Father, I ask you to reveal any idolatry in my heart. I choose to place you on the throne of my heart and be the primary focus of my life and worship. In Jesus name, Amen
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