God spoke all these words: “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me, and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
I am certain that this is a familiar bible verse, whether you are Jew or Gentile. We accept this as the FIRST commandment of God via Moses to those that seek to be His children. What I think is lost in reading this verse is the scope and meaning of this commandment. I do not like picking on one organized religion, but the obvious transgressor of this commandment are Catholics and Orthodox Religions. Although all of them break this commandment in some form or fashion. It is not a sin to have statues for visual pleasure, but it IS a sin to worship or put them in such high regard as the Madonna or the likeness of any man, woman or any other created form.
Religion is man's attempt to reach God, Jesus is God's attempt to reach man. Don't ever confuse the two. Baptists (all flavors), Pentecostals, Catholics, Anglicans, etc are merely MAN’S limited exercise in understanding God’s Will. Unfortunately, because it is a manmade ritual, it has also been infected with man made shortcomings and prejudices. Organized religions have been accused of attempting to control the masses and used as a tool to advance personal or organizational agendas. James 1:27 says “Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” Is YOUR religion pure and undefiled, or are you acting out pagan rituals with no purpose? Are you worshipping other gods like money, power, greed, or power?
I have said before and truly believe that spiritual closeness to GOD is allowing The Holy Spirit to guide your actions with a joyful and willing heart (attitude). Unselfish actions performed with no expectations of rewards (as opposed to “putting on a show”) are much more pleasing to The Lord than a huge display of charity and glittering showmanship. (Mark 12:41-44 gives us an insight to how our actions are perceived by The Creator of the Universe.) HE is not impressed with the pitiful QUANTITY of our gift, but the QUALITY and ATTITUDE of our humble offerings and sacrifices. We are expected to do what we can and with a cheerful, willing and servant-type demeanor. The very GIFT of our ability is meant to be pleasing to The Lord and used with that purpose. Lay aside useless manmade rituals and idols and use everything as a tool to please Yahweh and all credit to our CREATOR. “Pictures” and images of Jesus (this almost makes me laugh because Jesus walked this earth LONG before photography was invented) , crosses, the Madonna or any other RELIGIOUS artifacts hold no magical power and I see them as paganistic idol worship. Our faith and tribute should be made to a Real and Spiritual GOD that is jealous of His place in our hearts and He yearns for us to turn our fear and respect to THE CREATOR, rather than the creation … including “religious icons”
WHO is YOUR God?
May God Bless You and Yours
Gene
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