Idols

Welcome to the launch of our brand new devotional series! In the fourth segment of this international series, Evangelist Caleb Wampler joins you from South Asia!

God did some amazing things while in South Asia. More than 5,500 people have responded to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so excited to have been able to share thelight of Jesus Christ.

While here in South Asia, God has been destroying the darkness. 1 John 3:8 says, “The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” The work of the devil is to elevate himself. The devil wants people to believe his lie that he is elevated above God. This is the sin of pride. Although not talked about as much, the sin of idolatry is a prevalent sin in the world!

In this region of the world, over 380 million different gods or idols have been created. Simple things like cows and rocks are elevated. The people of South Asia need to see the move of God and need the love of Jesus.

We have already seen numerous people respond to the gospel including some pastors who weren’t serving the Lord! Exodus 32 talks about how Moses was receiving the 10 commandments from the Lord and how he was experiencing the glory of God. However, while he was gone, the Israelites wanted to build a golden idol, which we see in the Bible is wrong.

Exodus 32:1-5 says: “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods[a] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” 2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.”

The Israelites were getting impatient and felt as though they were getting weary from not hearing from the Lord. I think that sometimes we can feel like that. However, Jesusis truly the only way and light. We can wait patiently on Him. It has been glorious to see people in this nation encounter the Lord in a new way.

The Bible provides us with so many passages that warn against not making an idol or elevating things above the Lord. Here are a few passanges for reference:

Colossians 3:5

Jonah 2:8

Judges 10:14

1 Corinthians 10:14

1 John 5:21

So often, our world and culture around us tells us to go after the things that we want, making a name for ourselves and to believe in ourselves. However, Jesus is the only truth and He should define the way that we live our lives. He sets us free and helps us live in a way that is pleasing to Him by helping us overcome evil desires. Jesus will save us, and we need to lift him up as the only God.

Sometimes we think that idols don’t apply to us because we do not worship 380 million gods like they do in this culture. However, idols can be in the form of our schedules, money, and time. We should ask ourselves, what are we choosing to do with our lives? Are we letting God have control and our we glorifying Him through our lives? Jesus is the perfect example of what a life dedicated to the Father looks like. When He was carrying the cross to be crucified for our sins, Jesus said, “not my will but Your will.” We need to be led by Jesus. He is the only one who can save. The world and our culture do not define us. Only Jesus does!