“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Mark 12:30-31)

These are the words of Jesus in response to a scribe who asked what the most important commandment was.  Loving God and the people he puts in our lives with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength was his answer.  It is a consuming task.  It impacts every facet and moment of our lives.

In Old Testament times, the idols people worshiped included false gods and their images.  Today, our idols include entertainers, professional athletes, public officials, hobbies, careers, material things like cars, homes, jewelry, retirement accounts, etc. None of these are inherently wrong in themselves, but they can become idols if we make them so.

In the early years of our marriage and right after the Kansas City Chiefs had won Super Bowl IV, we were able to get season tickets as the Chiefs were moving from their old stadium into the larger Arrowhead stadium.  At first it was exciting, but it grew to become a project every Sunday, on which there was a home game, taking nearly the whole day with time for transportation, traffic, parking, etc. We had to get a babysitter for our young daughters for nearly the whole day.  In addition to the time, it also became rather costly.  

I had acquired an idol, a professional football team.  It became a detriment and a distraction to my love and responsibilities to my family.  There is nothing inherently wrong with being a fan of a professional football team, but when it detracts from loving your spouse and young family, and expressing your love for God on Sunday, I was in danger of creating and serving an idol over more important relationships and responsibilities – God and family. 

The people of Israel seemed to suffer from this tendency when the Bible reports in 2 Kings: 17:41, “Even while these people were worshiping the Lord, they were serving their idols.”  This eventually led to their exile in 722 BC, by the king of Assyria.    

Do you have idols that distract from your love of God and the people he has put in your life?