Have we not all in our various ways, set up some beloved idol; something which
engaged our affections, something which occupied our
thoughts, something to which we devoted all the energies of our
minds, something for which we were willing to labor night and
day?
Be it money, be it power, be it esteem of men, be it respectability, be it worldly comfort, be it literary knowledge, there was a secret setting up of SELF in one or more of its various forms, and a bowing down to it as an idol.
The man of business makes money his god.
The man of pleasure makes the lust of the flesh his god.
The proud man makes his adored SELF his god.
The Pharisee makes self-righteousness his god.
The Arminian makes free-will his god.
The Calvinist makes dry doctrine his god.
All in one way or other, however they may differ in the object of their idolatrous worship, agree in this: that they give a preference in their esteem and affection to their peculiar idol, above the one true God.
"And the idols he shall utterly abolish" (Isaiah 2:18.) There is, then, a time to break down these idols which our fallen nature has set up.
Be it money, be it power, be it esteem of men, be it respectability, be it worldly comfort, be it literary knowledge, there was a secret setting up of SELF in one or more of its various forms, and a bowing down to it as an idol.
The man of business makes money his god.
The man of pleasure makes the lust of the flesh his god.
The proud man makes his adored SELF his god.
The Pharisee makes self-righteousness his god.
The Arminian makes free-will his god.
The Calvinist makes dry doctrine his god.
All in one way or other, however they may differ in the object of their idolatrous worship, agree in this: that they give a preference in their esteem and affection to their peculiar idol, above the one true God.
"And the idols he shall utterly abolish" (Isaiah 2:18.) There is, then, a time to break down these idols which our fallen nature has set up.
[J. C. Philpot]
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Exodus 20:3-4 ... Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Psalm 115:4-8 ... Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.
Luke 16:13 ... No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. ❤
