Top X July 12, 2025 Devotional
July 12, 2025
DEUTERONOMY 5:8 | 8 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.
Human life becomes chaotic, and human beings suffer, when humans love the wrong things. John Calvin said, in his Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 1 Chapter 11 section 4.5: the heart and mind of man is “a perpetual forge of idols.” The Israelites were surrounded by peoples who loved and worshipped natural forces and creatures from animals to planets and stars. The number of things we can devote ourselves to is legion. We can love power in all its forms—political, economic, intellectual, physical, and sexual. We can adore prestige, status, and popularity, basking in the attention of others. We can become attached to others in obsessive ways, putting them on pedestals, making them the center of our universe. We can adhere to and give untested support to ideas and causes and ideologies, making the partially true absolute. In so doing, God is displaced. The source of love itself is marginalized and reality is distorted. Harm endures.
What lesser love have you been tempted to elevate?
Gracious God,
Save me from false love and puerile pursuits. Take away toxic affiliations. Clarify my affections and purposes in the light of Your Word.
Amen.
