Abandon Your Idols

Psalms 24:3-4(NIV)

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? 

The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.

Every time I read this scripture I am met with this overwhelming sense of conviction and awareness of how imperfect and sinful I am. Currently I'm reading Bible in a Year (free app from Nicky Gumbel) and last week we started Leviticus with chapter after chapter of detailed instructions for sacrifices to be made as an atonement for sin. I wonder how many times a week (if we’re being honest – more like a day) I’d have to sacrifice burnt offerings to God to atone for my sins! What struck me the most was the section of instructions for sacrifices for sins the Israelites were not even aware of. This got me thinking, how many idols are we unaware of in our lives? 

Sometimes it can be easy to distance ourselves from the Israelites when we hear the word ‘idol’. We think of the ancient idea of golden calves and elaborate rituals and congratulate ourselves and find safety in the belief that we don’t bow down and make sacrifices to idols today. But we do. Each day we sacrifice our time, our money, our resources to different modern day ‘idols’ – social media, people-pleasing, even ourselves (we can be our own idols.)

Today’s scripture is so convicting because the only way we can come before the Lord is if we are made righteous and holy, with clean hands and a pure heart. Thankfully Jesus Christ died so that through his one perfect sacrifice, we are made holy when we put our trust in him. As we partner with God, he reminds us that we now have a choice, to abandon our idols and choose to believe that the sacrifice of Jesus is enough to sustain us, today and forever.

Prayer — Dear Lord, thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus dying on the cross. Thank you that I now can choose life. Lord, I abandon my idols and choose to believe your sacrifice is more than enough to cover me, today and forever.