God detests idolatry, even in the form of parental love. (1)
It’s the first week of school and school buildings across the nation are filled with parents.
Yes, there are kids present, but you have a hard time seeing and hearing them through the thicket and over the buzz of the parents hovering around their kids.
Young adults are heading off to college and pictures are popping up all over Facebook of parents unpacking, decorating, and rearranging their children’s rooms, while the adult-child sits on the side with a perturbed look on his face.
When I was in school, parents never made it past the table set up 25 yards before the front door. It was at this table where we learned who our teacher would be for the next year.
When I went to college, my Dad (Mom stayed home) helped me get my suitcases and boxes out of the trunk of the car and onto the sidewalk before shaking my hand and telling me he’d see me at Thanksgiving. I had to haul the stuff up to my room by myself.
It use to be that most Christians only practiced idolatry at the bank, in front of the mirror, or at sporting events of their college or professional team.
That has all changed.
Parents, including the Christian-kind, have become idolatrous in their worship of their kids.
God would rather we worship Him instead of our kids.
Sarah Young wonders if this is why God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. In the voice of God, she writes:
I took Isaac to the very point of death to free Abraham from son-worship. Both Abraham and Isaac suffered terribly because of the father’s undisciplined emotions. (1)
God instructs parents to love their kids, not to worship them. We have become a nation of child worshippers. It is an addiction that is reinforced everywhere we go, including church.
I love my boys deeply. I love them so much I refuse to worship them. After they were married, I told both of them, “I relinquish my parental rights over you. However, I will always love you as your father.”
It was a freeing moment for them and for me.
I am the Lord your God, “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.” (2)
+ + +
-
Young, Sarah (2004-10-12). Jesus Calling – Deluxe Edition: Enjoying Peace in His Presence (p. 247). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
-
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Exodus 20:2–5.
Bread Crumbs - Devotions for Life 