one of those old commandments

today at church, my pastor talked about the first two commandments in exodus 20 (there are 10 total commandments, you know :) .. and the second one is about how the children of Israel were not to have idols. then we looked in deuteronomy 18.9-13 .. where we read that they were not to make idols or sacrifice to them or practice witchcraft or any of that. in those days, one practice was to sacrifice children to a god named molech, burning them on an altar. this is utterly detestable. really.

our pastor said he is deeply saddened that so often our children are still sacrificed. i hadn't ever quite used those words before, but it's true. they can be sacrificed to the idols of power .. money .. convenience .. selfishness .. career .. family .. relationships .. entertainment .. the list goes on. some of these are actually good things. but when we choose them over God, they become bad. really bad. our God has given us some wonderful things, but when we choose to honor ourselves or these good things in place of Him .. everyone suffers. and children most certainly suffer. this plays out in all different ways, but it's pretty easy to think of somebody we know who this might apply to. may we have eyes to see the idols we are placing before God in our own lives, and courage to ask Him to tear down the idols that God, and God only may have first place in our lives.