The gods of the people around you

​In the Book of Deuteronomy God was preparing His people to finally enter the promised land after 40 years of wilderness wandering.  He renewed His promises to them and reiterated the 10 commandments (Deut. 5).  In Deuteronomy 6, the Lord commands the people that when they enter the land, "You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the people around you" (Deut. 6:14).

This past Sunday we heard of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness by Satan.  For forty days Jesus was fasting and being tempted by the devil (Matt 4:1-11).  In every case Jesus refutes Satan's attacks with words from Scripture; all three temptations are countered with words found in Deuteronomy 6 and 8.  The final temptation, to fall down and worship Satan, Jesus refutes with Deut. 6:13, "You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve."

Obviously, Deuteronomy 6 verses 13 and 14 go together.  In order to worship the true God we must avoid the "gods of the people around" us.  What are the gods of the people around us in our culture in our day and age?  You may see a statue of Buddha around town or a mosque but there are many other gods of the people around us.  Money, sex, fame, power, or security can all become gods.  

What other things does our culture value more than God?  One way to ponder that question is to identify where our culture spends its money. Consider the great buildings of our day, sports venues, resorts, universities, government buildings, airports.  Compare those to the number of churches built.  Government data estimates that in 2020 roughly 3.5 billion dollars was spent on construction for religious purposes.  Compare that to 98 billion for educational construction, 82 billion for office space, or 25 billion for amusement and recreation construction.  Does our culture value those things more than worship of the true God?  As Jesus says, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21).

We too would do well to heed the words of the Lord to the Israelites, "You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the people around you."