Leviticus 26:40: “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me.”

January 9th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Leviticus 26 is a collection of blessings on those who keep the law and curses on those who don’t. Evidentially this was a common way to end a legal document in Old Testament times as both the Code of Hammurabi and several Babylonian documents used a similar close. The opening subject was a familiar one to them, and to us.

God Almighty is to be the only object of worship and adoration in our lives. Idols are literally nothings because false gods are not really gods at all. The most common idols are the three Ps—passion, power, and possessions—but anything in our lives that is more important than God is by definition an idol. Or said another way, we must continually ask ourselves what is our most prized possession? Would we be willing to give it up if Jesus asked us to? If our answer is no, then our possession has taken God’s place in our hearts and become an idol.

Augustine expanded on this idea of idols when he wrote, “Idolatry is worshiping anything that ought to be used, or using anything that ought to be worshiped.” These Old Testament believers often fell into the sin of idolatry, and things have not changed much in three thousand years. Our idols may be slightly more sophisticated but they are idols just the same.

The cure? Repentance. Repentance means to turn around and agree with God that we are sinful and that we need His help. God loves us and will forgive us if we simply humble ourselves before Him, surrender, and ask His forgiveness.

“LORD, forgive us and change our hearts this day; in Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.”