What could ‘gods’ look like in our lives today?

Exodus 20:3-6; Deuteronomy 6:14-15; 13:6-8

“Beware of fleshly lusts which war against your soul!” – 1 Pet 2:11. In Bible times, the people (aka gentiles/heathen) who surrounded the Israelites worshipped images, sculptures etc…lifeless things that they held in high esteem above the true God. As it was in those times, worshiping these gods was very common and attractive. At a more fundamental level, it’s attraction was partly borne out of an unwillingness to hope in the unseen and the ease of pleasing/manipulating the seen. The more society moved towards worshipping these idols, the quicker its values deteriorated as the quickening power of the holy spirit’s working process on the mind weakened. Better said, the act itself may not take an inordinate amount of time but it could have longer lasting effects which draw our minds away to things that do not glorify God. 

Indeed some people across different religions still worship/pray to lifeless things today, which is an abomination in God’s eyes. But to fully appreciate the spirit of the law, what other things in today’s society could easily also be seen as ‘gods’ in our lives? 🤔

Examples of such gods could be – playing games; addictions to: sports, tv/movies/series, gym/body/physical appearance, worldly music, social media, partying, alcohol, drugs, smoking, porn, pre-marital sex, food, work etc.; idolizing a preacher/pastor/celebrity/human relationship; pleasure and entertainment excesses; luxury goods; accumulating riches etc. The list could go on endlessly but hopefully you sort of get the point.

In summary: thinking that ‘gods’ today simply means an object you bow to wouldn’t be totally correct. There are so many other things that hold our minds bound away from God and His ways (which we only know by diligently studying the Bible). Thus, we should be careful about what engages our mind and time. It’s even more important today because these other things may initially appear harmless on their own but over time they replace/reduce our time with God or doing what God has called us to do, and have quite a strong grip on our minds or diminish our desire for godly things, making them gods in our lives as they now war against our soul and hold back the important transformation work of the Holy Spirit that aims to renew our minds. We all have a continuous heart test to do – God help us. 🙏🏾