The Supreme Place In Our Affections

Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
1 John 5:21

While few people bow before tree stumps or stone pillars today, that doesn’t mean idolatry is a thing of the past. As one commentator stated, “Most of the gods of this world are composed of tinted glass, baked-on enamel, chrome, Dacron, wool, silk, or alligator leather.”

Albert Barnes examines some of the subtle ways in which devotion for God can be misdirected—with disastrous consequences.

WALK WITH ALBERT BARNES
“We are not in danger, indeed, of bowing down to idols. But we may be in danger of substituting other things in our affections in the place of God, and of devoting to them the time and the affection which are due to him. It is possible to love even our children with an attachment as shall effectually exclude the true God from the heart. And we may love the world with an attachment such as an idolator would his idol-gods.

“There is practical idolatry all over the world.

“God should have the supreme place in our affections. The love of everything else should be held in subordination to the love of him.

“He should reign in our hearts; be acknowledged in our families; be submitted to at all times as having a right to command and control us; be obeyed in all expressions of his will; and be so loved that we shall be willing to part without a murmur with the dearest object of affection when he takes it from us.”

WALK CLOSER TO GOD
“God or “

Is there anything you might put in that blank that would cause you to think twice about the choice?

If so, now is the time to call it what it is—an idol—and to deal with it accordingly.

If not, ask God for an undivided and undiminishing love for him.

There’s no better way to “keep yourselves from idols” than to keep yourself wholly his.