![\"god-1772560_1920\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2017\/11\/god-1772560_1920-300x200.jpg\")
Sitting in church Sunday, listening to the sermon reminded me of the best selling books on Killing Lincoln and Kennedy. The\u00a0sermon had nothing to do with those\u00a0books, rather the Scripture we read made me think about writing a book called,\u00a0Killing Idols.<\/p>\n
Now, I am\u00a0\u00a0not about talking little statues. Rather, the kind of idols that Colossians 3 talks about–sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desires and covetousness–a list\u00a0that makes most of us a little uncomfortable when we read it.<\/p>\n
Would Killing Idols be a best seller? Doubtful, because\u00a0most of us like to entertain those idols, at least a little.<\/p>\n
Colossians 3:5 begins with the directive, “Put to death<\/span> therefore what is earthly in you…” and then the list from above follows. Whoa… Apostle Paul, those are strong words. He tells us to put to\u00a0death those things that tempt us to form an idol.\u00a0And that can only be done by the power of the Holy Spirit in us. Otherwise, we\u00a0end up trying to manage and regulate our idols. We may even come to worship them more than God.<\/p>\n The Apostle Paul wants us to go beyond sin\u00a0maintenance and actually destroy the sin that is in us by repentance and partnering with the Holy Spirit. If we don’t kill the idols of our heart,\u00a0they will eventually kill us!\u00a0When\u00a0we were made new creations by Christ, he gave us the power to defeat our sinful nature. He did this on the cross. He who had no sin, became sin so we could be the righteousness of Christ. We are the righteousness of God capable of putting sin to death because of\u00a0Christ in us.<\/p>\n So ask yourself, are you putting anything above God? If so, that is an idol and you’re worshiping it. Do you resemble more of your old sin nature than\u00a0\u00a0Christ who indwells you? Then your attention and focus are on that sin nature; that’s worship. Sin creeps into your life with a little compromise here and there; a little pornography, a little envy and coveting, a little impurity, giving in to temptation and finally succumbing to sin. Stop worshiping those idols;\u00a0put\u00a0them to death!<\/p>\n Then Paul tells us to put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. Does this list describe you? I certainly need work on this! But here is the good news. As we allow the work of Christ to dwell in us richly (Colossians 3:14), He makes us look more and more like Him. He becomes our focus and our object of\u00a0worship. That’s the antidote to idol worship: GOD WORSHIP. Put Him above everything else.<\/p>\n So put to death those idols and walk as one who is chosen by God, holy and beloved. “And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord, giving thanks to the Father through Him.” Give up the idol and worship the One who created you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sitting in church Sunday, listening to the sermon reminded me of the best selling books on Killing Lincoln and Kennedy. The\u00a0sermon had nothing to do with those\u00a0books, rather the Scripture we read made me think about writing a book called,\u00a0Killing Idols. Now, I am\u00a0\u00a0not about talking little statues. Rather, the kind of idols that Colossians…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[916],"tags":[4110,4108,4107,4109,1276,4106],"class_list":["post-9727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-god-relationship","tag-christ-living","tag-idol-worship","tag-idols","tag-killing-sin","tag-sin","tag-sin-nature"],"yoast_head":"\n