Jesus welcomed the people, taught them about the Kingdom of God and healed those in need. Luke 9:11
Testimony
The whole course is exceptional very relevant to me. I have gone away with a lot to think about. I have learnt that I don't have just to cope and be so independent. God is good & loves me, even me!.... Read More...

Seeds of the Kingdom

Idolatry? What, me?

by Roger Pook

You shall have no other gods before Me
Exodus 20:3, NKJV

Two days before Christmas, my netbook got a severe software problem and wouldn’t boot up. (Apologies to those who are already baffled by the vocabulary.) For those who really want to know, an Ubuntu update had managed to corrupt the boot manager, and I didn’t know how to fix it. Suggestions from knowledgeable friends didn’t work either.

Then I noticed something strange and rather disturbing. I was starting to show some classic symptoms of addiction withdrawal - not just moodiness and irritability (because I had caused the problem myself when installing the update), but a feeling of disorientation and something rather akin to grief. I really needed my computer to work, even though this was the Christmas holiday! In other words, I had made an idol of this cheap little netbook.

At church on 26th December I went to the prayer team after the service and confessed the sin of idolatry – I had broken the very first of God’s commandments, and had been looking for comfort in a computer instead of in the God of all comfort. Then through prayer I was released from the hold that Satan had got on me through this sin. I was free.

Idolatry comes in many different disguises. We may find comfort or significance in many things that are not bad in themselves but which can become idols. Maybe this is a good time to take stock: which of my possessions or activities would really cause me grief if I could no longer have it or do it? Have I allowed it to become an idol?

The dearest idol I have known,
Whate’er that idol be
Help me to tear it from Thy throne,
And worship only Thee.

(William Cowper, “O for a closer walk with God”, 1772)

Prayer: Dear Father, please show me if I have allowed something other than You to occupy the throne of my life. I don’t want it to take Your place. Help me to search my heart and make William Cowper’s words real in my life. Amen.

Roger Pook For 21 years Roger Pook and his wife Christine served in Central and Eastern Europe, based in Hungary at the Úr Rétje centre of Ellel Ministries. From there they travelled and ministered across the length and breadth of the former communist world. In 2018 Roger retired as Regional Director and they now live back in the UK, where Roger still serves on the Executive Leadership and as a trustee of The Christian Trust. They still travel for the Kingdom!

 

Sign Up Now

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship. Provided full acknowledgement is made to Seeds of the Kingdom as the source, you are also welcome to use it in a non-commercial way and reproduce it in magazines or other Christian websites. The copyright for any commercial use of the material remains with Ellel Ministries International.