October 16

Read: Matthew 10:37-39

From all your idols, will I cleanse you (Ezekiel 36:25).

From All Your Idols

Idol worship and the need for cleansing from it were both literal and real for the Hebrews. From the time they entered Canaan they were tempted to dilute their devotion to God by worshipping the idols of the heathen. The Canaanites worshipped the god of fertility and they had good crops, Would not the same worship produce the same results for the farmers of Israel? This was their temptation and to that temptation they yielded again and again. They did not forsake Jehovah entirely, but neither did they trust Him completely.

For us this promise is not literal but it is no less real. We are repulsed by the thought of praying before images of stone. But are there no idols from which our worship needs to be cleansed? Have I known what is God’s will for my life, but have tried to forget it and do something else because God’s will seemed hard? Have I tried to love God but my love has not been strong enough to keep me faithful to His will? These are the idols of today — wrong loyalties and unfaithful service. Can God help me at these points? He can. The promise is, “From all your idols, will I cleanse you.”

After the return from Babylon, Israel was never again troubled by idol worship. Cleansed and filled by the Holy Spirit, it is possible for us to love God with all the soul, with all the mind, and with all our strength. It is to this holy life of undivided loyalty that He summons us.

Jesus calls us from the worship Of the vain world’s golden store, From each idol that would keep us, Saying, “Christian, love Me more.'”

— Cecil F. Alexander