Commentary: Choose between God and idolatry

Ralph Fudge

The most common idol today seems very likely to be Mammon, the god of wealth.”

Each day of our lives on earth, each one of us must choose between worship of the one true God or some idol, such as money. There are many idols to choose from. Money is probably the most common, but there are actually many, such as material possessions, other people, political power, and even children and grandchildren.

Now, there is nothing wrong or immoral about loving your children and grandchildren. I have always adored mine. But we cannot ever put anything above our Creator, the Lord God Almighty. When the Pharisee lawyer asked Jesus what the great commandment was, He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). Christ goes on to say that we are also to love our neighbor as ourselves. (Matthew 22:39).

Any belief other than Christian doctrine is not only heretical but also idolatrous. Our society has been deceived by Satan into believing that there are many ways to heaven and that it really matters not what one believes, so long as he is sincere. But Jesus made the truth very clear when He says, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). That is the reason John tells us, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds” (2 John 1:10-11).

The most common idol today seems very likely to be Mammon, the god of wealth. So many people today literally worship money. They judge other people by the money they have. They call this “net worth.” The problem in judging someone by his net worth is that this does not take into account things of much more value, such as character, honesty, and truthfulness. Some people will do anything to gain more and more money or things of value. Some will even kill other people in order to take what they have. But Jesus asks, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).

Jude speaks of such people when he says, “Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah” (Jude 11). The “way of Cain” refers to man’s attempt to go his own way without consideration of God. It refers to man’s pride and false belief in works salvation instead of depending on God’s grace to be right with Him. There are many preachers who make this mistake and teach that their congregants must adhere to things not mandated by God. They preach that man must not do other things that God has never condemned in His Word.

I think the most common error people make is the failure to suppress their pride. Pride is responsible for so much sin in life! It is pride that makes people desire and even worship wealth. Pride makes many look down on other people and feel superior to them. That is a sin that God literally hates. It was pride that got Satan kicked out of heaven, along with many of the angels. In Proverbs 29:23, God warns us that, “A man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.”

Let us learn wisdom from God’s Word. Let us value wisdom much more than money. Let us choose to worship God, the only One who deserves glory. May we always shun all other gods as we strive to please the only God in the universe, the Great Creator of man and everything else.

___

Ralph Fudge is the pastor of Big Ochlocknee Baptist Church in Coolidge, Ga., and has a Master’s degree in theology from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.