Manmade Idols

Idols, they are something so common in today’s time and have been this way since the fall of mankind. However, what are idols? The word for idol in the Greek is “eidōlon” and it means an image or likeness meant for worship. Now, there are three different types of idols as listed: man-made idols, modern day idols, and hidden idols. This devotional is focused specifically on the man-made idols.
“And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.” – Acts 7:41.
If you look back in the Word of God, manmade idols/false gods are always something created or designed by man. A few examples of common manmade idols are false gods, things made to be trusted in more than God, and things that feed the flesh so the flesh will worship it. The golden cow made by the Israelites was something they cast and made. This idol was something they made to put their trust in rather than God. Many of these idols usually were made with gold and precious metals and stones. All these idols shared one thing in common that is separate from God. Idols relied on the hands of men to thrive because idols came from the hands of men. Isn’t it ironic how mankind put their trust in idols, the things they made? They are no more powerful than mankind; in fact, they are less powerful because they are deaf, mute, and powerless. Now, look at the definition of idols again: an image/likeness. Anything we make is made out of our likeness or anything that we can imagine.
“The craftsman stretches out his rule, he marks one out with chalk; he fashions it with a plane, he marks it out with the compass, and makes it like the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house.” – Isaiah 44:13.
The context of this verse in Isaiah is about idols and a man making one. If you notice near the end of the verse, it talks about the idol being made according to the beauty and figure of a man. Therefore, this is a complete act of the flesh. People make these idols and things they worship out of the darkness of their flesh. But because this is in the image and likeness of a man, it will be no greater than the man. Hence why all idols are false. The flesh cannot make anything valuable or anything eternal, for the flesh is corrupt and darkened to the likeness of this world. In which idols are made according to the darkness of this world. Now, am I saying that anything man makes is an idol? No, because idols are made to be worshipped, and the many things we make aren’t made for worship. Anything can be an idol if it is worshipped. Even ministry work can be an idol because it can take a higher priority than your relationship with God, which makes it an idol. Even if a man didn’t make it like the planets or stars, they can still be an idol because man can worship it. Idols are about what we do for them, not what they do for us. However, God is the other way around as He loves us regardless of what we have done, in which we then love Him because of the great love He has shown us.
“We love Him because He first loved us.” – 1 John 4:19.
So then, why has man strived to make idols since the fall till even today? The thing about idols is that they are something man can control. Man can’t control God. The flesh longs to have control and its own voice over things. It doesn’t want to be subject to anyone else except its own desires and will. If you really looked at this from the right perspective, why would man want to worship idols when they have the one true God who loves them more than anything idols could ever do? Flesh doesn’t always respond to love because love doesn’t take pleasure in its own; love takes pleasure in serving others. Now, if you look at Paul when he was addressing the Areopagus in Athens, he started revealing the one true God and said some things that show how different God is from idols.
“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshipped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. (29) Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.” – Acts 17:24-25, 29.
There are three key points Paul made in these verses. God does not dwell in temples made with hands, He isn’t worshipped with men’s hands, and He isn’t something shaped by man’s devising. Man-made idols always have to do with man. These idols that were worshipped in the Old Testament always had a temple for it, always were worshipped with some act of the flesh like prostitution or child sacrifice, and were always made and devised by some man. They always had a point of origin that derived from man. Now we can worship God anywhere at any time without a temple; we worship through our spirit, and God doesn’t originate from us, but rather we originate from Him. So overall, idols are false, wrong, and of the flesh of man corrupted by the darkness and sinful nature of this world. It desires nothing but itself and its own pleasures, fantasies, and ways. The flesh wants to worship something that satisfies that darkness. It wants something it can control. However, we have God, who loves us more than any of that and seeks our well-being rather than what we desire or want. He is the one above us and triumphs over all these dumb idols. He is the only one who is eternal and truly fulfilling. For the flesh desires pleasure, but pleasure is fleeting, not fulfilling.