Take a Minute -- Friday, 5/7/10 -- FOLLOWING OTHER GODS -- Deuteronomy 6:14
J.R. & Bonnie Ricks
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FOLLOWING OTHER GODS -- Deuteronomy 6:14 NIV
"Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you."
Don't ever think that the Old Testament is out of date, because people are the same today as they were 3,500 years ago when Moses wrote Deuteronomy. Of course, our lifestyle is faster, and our technology has created a world that would dumbfound Moses if he were here today. But people are exactly the same.
In this verse, the Lord admonished the Israelites not to worship the gods of the people around them. He's saying the same thing to us today. In order to accomplish this, we must be "in the world, but not of the world". Otherwise, the “gods” of the peoples around us will become our gods.
Who are your best friends? How do you spend your leisure time? Just as the people of Moses' time were influenced by the pagans around them and turned to other gods, so will we be influenced by all of the life around us and, when we let that happen, it’s very easy to turn to other gods. Those other gods might be popularity, power, money, influence, people, possessions, and – sadly - drugs... or any number of other things… because those are the “gods” of the world. Just like a computer, your mind receives input all day, every day. If the majority of the input is of the world, the majority will most likely win. "Do not be misled: 'Bad company corrupts good character.'" (1 Corinthians 15:33 NIV)
This does not mean you must avoid contact with non-Christians and limit your social activities only to those sponsored by the church, but it does mean that you must have enough "input" from Bible study, prayer, and from other Christians to counter balance the negative input you receive from the world. In other words, make sure you’re spending more time devoted to your relationship with the Lord than you spend developing relationships with the unsaved.
Pray about what you can do to guard against that worldly focus and center your worship on our Lord.
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