Exhortation- Second Commandment

Exodus 20:4-6 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Dear Saints, we are making our way through the Ten Commandments, re-learning what God has told us to do and what not to do. We no longer have men in the public square carving literal idols for us to worship. We thank God for that great advancement in His earth. Jesus is putting down His enemies and subduing them beneath His feet.

But there is still reason for us to be on our guard. Not every idol is made of wood. Some idols are made of unfaithfulness. Some are made of ideas. Some are made of the blessings that accrue around us. God is our only hope and refuge. He alone can save us from our sins. We must be mindful when we fashion other gods with our minds, as if they could save us. We find safety in our homes, but Jesus had not to lay His head. We find safety in our friends but the disciples all fled and forsook the Lord. We find safety in our bank accounts but Jesus had to catch a fish to pay His taxes.

We also tend to fashion God after the imaginations of our heart. We think of Him as exacting, or kind, or benevolent, or lenient, or harsh, just as the need or the mood fits us. But God is all of these things at various times. We should not fashion Him as fits us. We need to be made in His image and shall not fashion Him after the image of man. The only way for us to conform to the image of God is to know Him through His Word and Spirit, to submit to His laws and obey His commands. Only then, can we be transformed into the image of God and cease transforming the god of our minds into the image of man.

We really do fashion images. Let us cease doing so, learning who God is and what He demands of us. Then, we shall be like Him because we will see Him and worship Him as He is.