Having No False gods

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

HAVING NO FALSE GODS

1 Cor 8:4-6

4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

NIV

The, so then, takes us back to what was just said, therefore we are continuing with this idea of idols and eating food that was sacrificed to them. We do wonder if there is any food today that has been sacrificed to idols. We have no doubts about the fact we do have many idols and false gods in this world today. We do wonder if we look at food as an idol, or simply as fuel for our bodies. We wonder if our interests in certain areas of this world can become idols. We know there are non-believers who base their mode on whether their favorite team has won or lost. Have they turned that team or one of the star players into an idol? Although the city of Corinth, being a Greek city had many false gods, with all their Greek mythology. But do we have any false gods today in our culture? What could be considered a false god? Some have suggested that entertainment, pleasure, fame, money, power, selfishness, and instant gratification are false gods. Others have suggested that whatever consumes the majority of our thought life might well have become an idol or false god in our lives. Still, others would consider anything that is not perfectly aligned with the truth of God could be a false god. What we do know is that we should not have any false gods before Him. We have but only one God, the Father from whom all things came and for whom we live. There is no life without God Almighty, the creator of heaven and earth. He is the one who formed us from the dust and breathed his very breath into our being. All other things in this world cannot even come close to giving us life and life more abundantly, meaning eternal life. Some might think that abundant life means having many material things in life, and being able to have anything we want, simply by believing in God. Some believe we can ask for all those material blessings, using Mark 11:22-23 as a name it, and claim it theology, but they fail to keep reading verses 24-25 which talk about forgiveness. Having faith in God is not about asking for material things, but about asking him to be the force in our lives, with the power to move those mountains in our lives, those obstacles that keep us from being all God intended us to be. Having faith in God means we can say to that false god, that idol in our lives, “Move out of my way” and “Go back to the sea, where you evil, vile thing came from in the first place”. The sea was where the Israelites thought evil resided. So throwing that mountain into the sea refers to the evil that we have allowed to influence us, which includes those ill feelings we could harbor against someone. When we throw all that mountain, that evil which stands before us, back into the sea, we can then focus on our one true God, and live by his grace, or His divine influence upon our lives, thus we will reflect his glory to the world.