Idols: The Sacrifices We Make

I have come to a painful realization. I am the worst kind of idolater. I used to be dismissive of the seemingly ridiculous idols of Israel, God’s people in the Old Testament. I wondered how they could so easily become ensnared by false gods.

Then, I realized something fundamental about idols. They always demand a sacrifice.

Molech.

He’s literally the worst. Molech was the most repulsive of the idols Israel was tempted to follow. He required child sacrifices. Into fire. No one would do that, would they? Sacrifice their children for the sake of some other, greater dream?

Unfortunately, it happens all the time. Although we have dispensed with the literal burnt offerings of our children, we still sacrifice our children on the altar of success, money, fame, and power. Our occupations constantly clamor for more and more of our time. Our fear of being without, our lack of faith in a God who always provides, invites this unhealthy imposition. We work longer hours. We travel further and further from home for the sake of a paycheck, for the sake of the security it pretends to promise.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I write this as a personal and corporate confession. I count myself among those who foolishly run after lesser gods. Although we have become more clever and creative in fashioning and adorning the lesser things we worship, we still worship creation, not our creator.

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
–Romans 1:25

A recent show on Starz, “American Gods,” has explored this very truth: that we were created to worship God, but settle for so many other lesser things. The show explores how the gods of old, the immigrant gods that traveled with their worshipers to America are facing extinction at the hands of new techno-gods, the new gods of our information and entertainment age.

The modern idolatry shares a painful commonalty with the idols of old. They have a cost. Idols still demand a sacrifice. The beauty of the gospel, the beauty of following Jesus is that He has already sacrificed Himself for us, which is why Jesus frequently said,

But go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
–Matthew 9:13