Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

May 4– Morning

 by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“Will a man make gods for himself which are, in fact, no gods at all?” 

—Jeremiah 16:20

 

One great besetting sin of ancient Israel was idol worship, and God’s people today have the same foolish tendency. The names of these gods have been changed, but money is still used to build our golden calves, and the shrines of pride remain intact. Self in various forms struggles to enslave the chosen ones, and the flesh sets up its altars wherever it can find space for them. Even good things like caring for one’s children can become a cause for sin in believers; certainly, we are to care for them, but the Lord is grieved when he sees us doting upon them more than we should. If Christians desire to grow thorns with which to stuff their sleepless pillows, then let them coddle their loved ones too much.

It is a true statement that “there are no gods,” for the objects of our foolish love and worship are simply blessings and comforts that have become too valued in our hearts, and, therefore, dangerous to our spirits. The help these so-called “gods” can give us in the hour of trouble is little, indeed.

Why are we so mesmerized with these self-pleasures? We pity the poor pagans who worship gods of stone, and yet we too easily give ourselves to worship a god of gold. Where is the vast superiority between the two? The principle, the sin, the folly is the same in either case, only that in ours the crime is worse. The heathen bows to a false deity, but he has never known the true God; we commit two evils since we turn away from the living God and embrace idols. May the Lord purge us from this great sin!  [M&E]