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"Bobby Greg Hatfield of Nichols Hills, the only son of Greg and Betty Hatfield, perished tragically Sunday morning in a plane crash."
(For those who do not know, Nichols Hills is a section of Oklahoma City where the wealthy and the "wanna' be wealthy" reside. )Â
I use this to illustrate a point I want to make in this post. Â I wonder if anyone other than I thought it perhaps a Freudian slip in her mentioning the section of the city where the family lived before anything else.
It also seemed especially significant that the accident happened on a Sunday morning. I wonder if things would have turned out any differently if this young man had grown up spending his Sundays in church rather than at the lake or at some swimming event? You see, I happen to know a little about this family and its priorities.c
To be honest, however, who really cares that this family lives in Nichols Hills? The people who knew this young man, who liked and respected him, and counted him as a friend certainly did not, I am willing to bet.
Yet, it was important to this woman, obviously, that those reading the obituary, which, incidentally, she had the newspaper run for five straight days, know.
Which brings me to the subject of today's blog...which is idol worship. Â Something that a lot of people overlook in the Old Testament is how much of it is devoted to God's trying to break his chosen people from slipping back into idol worship.
The Old Testament deals primarily with craven images of sticks and stones,  but there is another type of idolatry today.
Ezekiel, in prophecying of the coming of Christ states:  “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?†(Ezekial 14:3)
That is the failing of today's chosen people--Christians. Idolatry is serious business to God. Â He considers anything that we put ahead of Him as equivalent to saying that we hate Him. Â
One commentary says regarding this passage, “We have not to picture these elders to ourselves as given up to gross idolatry. (“Set up in their heartsâ€) means to allow anything to come into the mind, to permit it to rise up in the heart, to be mentally busy therewith. ‘To set before one’s face’ is also to be understood, in a spiritual sense, as relating to a thing which a man will not put out of his mind?. Thus the two phrases simply denote the leaning of the heart and spirit towards false gods. God does not allow those who heart is attached to idols to seek and find Him.†Keil and Delitzsch, Ezekiel, pg. 178.
This same idea is also echoed in the New Testament: Â
Colossians 3:5 says, “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:â€
Covetousness is idolatry of material possessions whose throne is the heart.
To those who practice this type of idolatry, God says, “Should I be inquired of at all by them?†The rhetorical question shouts the answer, “No. Those who worship idols cannot call upon God.â€
If one is so obsessed with acquiring worldly possessions without giving an equal amount to God, he is guilty of the idolatrous sin of covetousness, which is greed.
Another form of idolatry is that of a love of leisure.....this could be anything that one does that might interfere with his worship of God and his study of God's word.  It might be golf, fishing, boating, camping, vacation homes, trips, reading, or any leisure activity that one allows to take precedence over his love of God.
None of these is idolatrous in and of itself. Â We all need leisure time; but it cannot become our excuse for not attending worship or not studying the Bible.
The hour is late; but it is not yet passed. It is never too late to recognize our mistakes and rectify them until it's too late.
It seems to me that the mother who wanted to be sure that everyone knew the community where the family lived might have some of her priorities wrong.
And that's my two cents' worth this Lord's Day!
