Stoning those dumb idols

Another great Deuteronomy passage. Read and then I'll say some things about it...

Deuteronomy 13:6-11 "⁶ “If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, ⁷ of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, ⁸ you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; ⁹ but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. ¹⁰ And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. ¹¹ So all Israel shall hear and fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you." 

I read this the other day and thought of an interesting way we can apply this to our lives. Bare with me.

When it says that people can entice us to other gods - I knew that it was talking about the false gods that people in Canaan and all those other places worshiped and stuff. But then I starting thinking about false "gods" in my life, now. That threaten me - now. Idols. I let myself be enticed into putting things (school, family, friends, chores, media, socialization) further up on my priority list than God. And we know that the Bible says, "Whoever loves their brother...sister....mom or dad more than Me isn't worthy of me. (my version)." I am under the impression that putting those things ahead of God is probably just as offensive to Him as what the Israelites did.

Of course, I know we all get distracted from time to time. But reading this passage - I am reminded to be looking out and watching for distractions so I can tackle them before they become a serious problem.

Whoa...I'm really surprised by the way God wanted them to react. Kill them? Stone them? Wow. That's how serious God was about this. Obviously, we don't have the authority to kill people like back then - they were in a Theocracy and got permission straight from God. But in a figure of speech we can "put to death" those things that drive us away from Christ.

Killing this is hard. I know it is. I've had to do it. But how can we kill those things that are trying to take God's place on the throne of our hearts? I think these verses sum it really well. James 4:7-8 "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. "

I have this habit of being in a bad situation or finding myself in sin and saying, "Oh no! What do I do?" then panicking. Really stupid. But when we rest in the Lord and REALLY not just kinda....but REALLY pour ourselves into the Word to find help - we are helped. Those giant idols start to crumble and God grabs our hearts again. Resisting the devil - is as easy as diving in the Word and begging for God for help. We just don't realize that.

I love the last part of verse ten. " And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage."

 I could say much about that verse, but I'll let it gives it's own message. It just makes me wonder why I let those "dumb idols" creep in anyways.

Okay, now I am going to bounce back a little. A verse at the beginning of the chapter said this. It was talking about the same thing, but was only slightly different from the passage above. It said.. "you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul."

*gulp* This verse scares me. I forget that trials that come int his life ARE IN FACT a test of our faith and love for Christ. Next time I say, " I love God" I am going to remember this verse.

So questions for the day. What are the gods in our life? And how do we go about stoning them?