In 2002, the show American Idol came out, and everyone I knew was watching it. But I recoiled at the name. I am confident I was saved a few years prior, and while my faith wasn't the strongest, I was trying to grow closer to the LORD. And I feel in my heart that the Holy Spirit put that recoil in my heart, so I would not watch that show.
My first stepfather used to call my Hollywood. I always wore sunglasses in the house, played dress up, and yeah, it was my nickname. He even called me it, after a decade of not seeing him, when my brother graduated high school. And I thought it was a cool pet name. I remember growing up, actors/actresses were Hollywood Stars. But as I grew up, that went away. Then in 2002 the show came out.
And in the years since, I have come to realize why God gave the first commandment, and the second:
Exodus 20 (ESV) - The Ten Commandments
And God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
I have come to learn that the order God gives His words matter, how He starts His words and ends them matters too. All of God's words matter, but He puts an emphasis on certain parts, because we as humans fail, need extra direction and guidance.
God want's to be first in our life.
Matthew 6:33 (ESV)
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
These 4 verses are so important, and more than relevant these days. John warned us to keep from idols. He did so, because, our hearts are deceptive and we easily go astray. Now, in his time, idols, the false gods, were little tokens, statues, etc. Man made items that could not talk/walk/think. And here we are around 2,000 years later, and not much has changed. We might not have blatant altars and statues. But we are surrounded by idols. Food, television, computers, smart phones, shopping, hobbies.
We put all of these things before God on a daily basis. And I am no better than anyone else. When you do not make time to pray and read your Bible daily because you are too busy, well...what do you have time for? How many times did you browse Facebook? Did you clean up your emails? Did you get your 3 mile run in? What did you listen to while driving your kids to school and yourself to work?
This past week was the World Series of Baseball. And our hometown team, the Houston Astros played. I am not a sports chick. I will go to games, watch occasionally on t.v., but I honestly don't care for any of it. My life is not made better by it, or worse, it has no impact on my life. Normally. This past week though, my Facebook feed was packed with orange. Everyone excited for the games, emotions running high and low, people decked out in the colors. I let my kids dress up for school once or twice, there is no harm in minor participation. Honestly, I only stayed up the last night, and even fell asleep before the game ended. Houston won! And the frenzy only increased. HISD closed down on Friday (it appeared to be for the parade, so students could go, but it was because the school buses could not transverse due to the parade). Oh and the parade. Parts of the city closed down, thousands of people in attendance, kids taken out of school, families in line for hours for merchandise, news coverage wall-to-wall.
Life is tough. Houston not even 2 1/2 months ago was devastated by Hurricane Harvey. Many people still have not recovered. This was a break and a relief. I an not against that. I have my luxuries, my little pleasures. And I pray that God would convict me if any of those started to consume my life. Because if they are consuming my life, they are coming before Him. It takes work to stay focused on God, and not let idols come before Him.
Now, lets go back to Hollywood and American Idol. I truly believe America is a land of idols, that we are putting everything before God. And God is starting to remove the scales from our eyes to see how destructive these idols WE make are to our lives. In the past week or so, it has come out that major producers and actors have abused power given to them to abuse, molest, and harm others. And horrific stories keep coming out about the different abuses. We, as society, have allowed these individuals to be paid ridiculous money,share their worldly opinions with all, and be an influence in our lives. And many of them apparently have been abused or been abusers. The appear to have everything: glitter, gold, friends, riches, glory. But it is all falling apart. And apparently this false world has existed for decades.
John was wise to end 1 John with his words, "Little children, keep yourself from idols." The offer no hope, no future, and pry our focus off of God. Who needs to be our first search, in all that we do. We need to focus on Him, put Him first in our lives. If we do that, He will work things out for us.
I recommend reading the Book of 1 John, it's theme is "-God is Love."
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