EXPLORE IT - 1 Corinthians 10:7-8

1 Corinthians 10:7-8   Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry." We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did-- and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.

Our passage this week directs us back to one of my favorite Old Testament stories, Exodus 32.  In this passage, Moses is on the mountain with God, receiving directions about the Tabernacle as well as the Ten Commandments.  Because Moses was taking so long, the Israelites decided to give up on him and God and looked to create their own God.  Aaron gave them instruction to take off their gold jewelry and “fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf” (Exodus 32:4b).  When Moses returned, the story of what happened changed.  Moses asked Aaron what he had done and Aaron said he took the gold jewelry, “threw it into the fire, and out came this calf” (Exodus 32:24b).  I love this passage (I’m sure that seems strange).  But I love Aaron and the Israelites.  We are so very much like them!

Aaron and the Israelites get tired of waiting, they turn to something else, and then feign ignorance as to how it even happened.  As if saying, “We threw the gold in the fire and Poof! a golden calf came out.  So weird!  I have no idea how that happened!”  We can have a tendency to follow in these footsteps.  We get tired of waiting on God and decide to take matters into our own hands.  Sometimes we intentionally shake our fist at God and intentionally follow a path we know we should not be on.  But more often than not, we end up sinning and we have no idea how that happened. 

In counseling, I often hear people share their situation and then they say they have no idea how they got to the point of sin.  The thing is, we don’t just throw gold into the fire and out comes a golden calf, we have to fashion our lives with graving tools.  In other words, sin doesn’t just happen.  We make one small choice, one small allowance of questionable behavior, and it takes us slightly off course, so small, no one notices.  With enough small allowances, one day we realize we are no longer moving in the right direction.

As we move through life, we need to be mindful of every decision, making sure everything is moving us closer to God; that He remains first in our lives.  We cannot allow anything to come before Him or that thing becomes an idol in our life.  One little off course choice may seem harmless, but it paves the way for the next decision and the next.  Is there any place in your life that you seem to be heading in the wrong direction?  Any allowances you are permitting in your life?  Repent and pray for a course correction.  God is anxiously waiting for you to turn from all false gods in your life and turn to Him who is Truth!

Blessings,
Pastor Amy