Day 59: 1 John 5:21

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”



There’s a reason that this is the first commandment. It is so important, so crucial, and so often, the commandment that we break the most.


When many of us think of idols, we usually think of other gods. Most Christian leaders can say without doubt that they aren’t worshipping any other gods. Marduk, Ishtar, Budda, and the rest of them probably aren’t on the list.


The insidiousness of idolatry is that we can make anything like god, and worse, anything that we put first in our life becomes our god. In this way we can go to church and worship the one true God, while at the same time prostituting ourselves out to money, power, sex, and all sorts of debauchery that we have made more important than God.


The danger to the Christian leader is even more present. So many times we put our jobs, our ministries, and our leadership ahead of God. Nothing is more dangerous than making our ministries or jobs first in our life and relegating the God of those ministries and jobs to second place.


It’s easy to do, and before you know it, you’ve stopped reading your bible. You disengage from your church family. Your prayer life falters. You think you’re so busy doing God’s work, forgetting the God of that work.


Remember that we can’t give out what we don’t possess ourselves. If you aren’t filling yourself with the Word, your life with prayer, and practicing the presence of God, then your work and ministry for Him will falter and in the end implode.


Keep yourselves from idols. That means intentionally put God first in your life. Make sure that you’re in the word, and not just as part of your job, or to answer the questions of someone at work.


CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLE: The Christian leader is in constant danger of making their work and ministry their god. God’s work must never replace the God of the work.


Here’s a set of verses to meditate on today: Luke 18:18-30


Prayer: Father, help me to not replace you with anything. Give me the strength to recognize when something is taking over my life. In Christ’s name I pray, amen.