Ep 250 – 1 John 5:13-21 PT 6

This is the sixth episode on 1 John, chapter five, verses 13-21 and is entitled, "American Idols." We live in a day when idols are everywhere. No, they're not the kind of idols we see described in the Old Testament. Ours are much more sophisticated and less blatant in terms of their role as false gods in our lives. Our idols take the form of material goods, entertainment, popularity, pleasure, money, success and our own happiness. But they are false gods nonetheless. Why? Because we worship them. We shower these things with our attention, and place on them our hopes for the future and depend upon them for our needs for the present. But John warns us to be on the alert and to recognize the danger of these God-substitutes. They are everywhere and ever-present. They're alluring and always subtle in their ability to distract us from the one true God. As Christians, we can even make idols out of worship, Bible study, doctrine, and our own spiritual accomplishments. We can easily find ourselves worshiping the wrong things, giving precedence to those things that were intended to draw us nearer to God, not to replace Him as God. So John warns us to keep ourselves from idols.