Excerpt from Deuteronomy 6:10-25

"Do not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who are all around you."

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

A cartoon in a magazine depicts a man and a woman leaving worship.  The sign outside the church announces that the sermon topic for the day was the Ten Commandments.  The man says, "Well, at least I haven't made any graven images lately."

The sad truth is, if the man in the cartoon is anything like us, he HAS made graven images—that is, idols, false gods.

Today, no longer are we tempted to worship gods by the name of Zeus or Aphrodite or Apollo.  Now we are wooed by gods named Education or Success or Family or Money.

Paul Tillich, an influential theologian of the last century, defined God as a person's "ultimate concern."  If you want to know what your ultimate concern is—or, to put it another way, if you want to know what your idols are—ask yourself these questions:  Where is your ultimate loyalty?  What do you consistently make time for?  In what have you put your trust?  Where can you be most deeply threatened?

No one ever says, "I'm going to worship an idol now."  Instead, idolatry happens when we invest our fullest energy and our ultimate allegiance in those things—perhaps even good things—that are not ultimate.   And if we worship idols, instead of the one true God, we will be ultimately disappointed.  There is only one God worthy of our worship.

Prayer

O God, the one true God, guide my actions and my thoughts this day so that I will not look for you in all the wrong places.  Amen.

About the Author Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

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