Paper
cuts. Those things can hurt like crazy,
and they always come when you least expect it.
Nah,
I’m just kidding. Seriously, though,
books can be dangerous. Not just books, either, but also TV, music,
games, and even ourselves. How can all
those things be dangerous?
Exodus
chapter 20 says this:
(1)And God spoke all these
words, saying:
(3)“You shall have no other
Gods before Me,
(4)“You shall not make for
yourself a carved image –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 nor serve them. For I, the Lord
your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the
children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
(6)but showing mercy to
thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
The
fourth verse up there says that we should not make any carved image of anything
to worship. We call those carved images
idols, right? Here’s the first
definition of ‘idol’. “An
image or other material object representing
a deity to which religious
worship is addressed.”
–Dictionary.com
“Now wait a second,” you might be saying. “Are you trying to say that a normal object
like a book can become an idol? We don’t
worship them.” It’s true you shouldn’t worship anyone or anything but
God, but it’s happened to me before, and it can happen to anyone. The fourth definition of ‘worship’ is this: “the object of adoring reverence or regard.”
–Dictionary.com
To boil it down, an object you love; an object that's important. Many times, I've said things like "I love reading," or "I love gaming," or "I love I Love Lucy,"
Saying those things casually is not usually a big deal. People do it all the time, even though ‘like’ is usually the correct word to use.
But you know, there have been times in my life when it has been a big deal; times when I could game for hours with rapt attention, but I couldn’t take the time in my prayers to praise God for being who He is. Times when I could read a novel (which may not have even been the best thing for me to be reading at the time), but couldn’t be bothered to read my Bible.
I don’t remember exactly how old I was when I went to Sunday School and the lesson was about our everyday idols. I just remember being shocked that an idol wasn’t just something made of wood or gold and feeling guilty because I had more than a few things in my life that I invested more time with and gave more attention to than my Savior. From then on, I strived to change my habits, and it’s still a struggle sometimes.
None of this is meant to scare you away from gaming or judge you for how much time you spend reading fiction. Trust me, if anyone can understand the hobbies of reading and gaming, it’s me. This post is just the ramblings of an average Christian teenage geek, who sometimes needs to remember what things are really important in life, and just wanted to share.
 |
| The important things in life, like hanging out with great friends. |
If you feel in a sharing mood,
comment, and tell me if you’ve ever struggled with an “everyday idol”. I’d love to hear from you.
Hey Kaylin,
ReplyDeleteI loved this blog post, it was a conversation I just had with one of my church sisters this last week! Another thing to note, that I didn't know until just a few months ago (which might not relate completley but I think is kind of cool)...is that there is more than one word for love in the Greek and Hebrew (I think it is 3 in the Greek and 2 in the Hebrew, but I'm not sure). So when the bible was written it would have had differnt words for things like I love my brother, or I love a move, we lose that difference when we translate it.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Victoria! I'm glad you enjoyed this post. It was a lot of fun to write.
DeleteYes, English is rather a limited language sometimes. We have so many words, but only one word for 'love', which has way more than one meaning.
Great post, and a lot of food for thought! How many times I've sat awake late at night reading a book and forgotten to read my Bible? Too many times for sure. I also have it with movies or even the internet. It sure puts things in perspective once the things we love (*like*) such as movies, books, games, internet and so on are defined as potential idols. That's something to keep an eye on for sure!
ReplyDeleteI'm really happy to have come across your post! :)
Hi again, Suzanne! Funnily enough, I just commented on your blog not too long ago. Haha.
DeleteYes, the internet is a huge time-waster for me sometimes. I have to control myself and not let too much time get away from me. There's too many things that are far more important.