idolatry

The speaker discusses the topic of idolatry and its complexities. They define idolatry as worshiping something other than God, whether it be a physical idol or something that takes up too much of our time. They emphasize the importance of not putting our desires before God and expecting Him to fulfill them without a genuine relationship. They explain that God is not a genie and that we should not rush things, as we may not be ready for what we ask for. They discuss the idea of spending genuine time with God and not treating it as a chore. They mention the importance of not pushing others to do religious activities for the sake of appearance, but rather encouraging them to genuinely seek a relationship with God. They also explore the concept of God's jealousy, explaining that it comes from a place of love and protection, not envy. They address the idea of idolizing things and how it can hinder us spiritually. They stress the importance of choosing to worship God and being responsible fo Let's talk about idolatry cuz for real though Let's like really get into it. Yeah hello, everyone, welcome to the parable pod and Let's talk about idolatry now. There might be a part two Because there is a lot more complexities to it I might even have someone else on this episode talk about their experience with Idolatry and like a different set of like like they were a part of a different religion at the time before they came to Christ So I feel like that would be really good, but I was like Lord What what else should I talk about? And he was like idolatry cuz I struggle with it. Almost everyone struggles with it And I was just like, okay, we're gonna talk about it. So let's go ahead and do it. Let's talk about it So based on the definition of idolatry, it's basically Worshipping an idol whether it's physical or just something that is Taking up too much of our time so things from praying to a physical taking God to playing on the PlayStation or Like doing your makeup for like over like three billion gazillion hours like anything that is in placement of your time with God is You know, those are examples of idols And as Christians, we cannot put things we want over God and expect him to do things for us You know at the top of the hat when we don't have that relationship with him It's important to remember that God is not a genie. Okay, we can't rub the nice Bottle and be like, hey, give me a million dollars and it's like a you don't work because you waste your time doing stuff and be That's not how it works in general because God knows our limits when it comes to certain stuff and if we ask for something and we don't get it straight off the bat It's because nine times out of ten. We're not ready for it. We're not prepared for it yet, and it's okay Okay, we got time don't rush things because when you rush things it becomes a whole bunch of nonsense and then you know Going back to our last episode you blame God for all the things happening in your life But it's like when you do things in your world and God's will of course, it's gonna become a whole bunch of Nonsense, but I digress again As believers the most important thing is to spend time with God Genuinely, not like we're doing a chore like you wake up and you're like, hey, thank you God for allowing me to wake up You know another day or when you have free time, you know I think maybe I do want to read a few chapters from this book or I do want a journal about this or whom I Do want to pray about this? those are things that you are genuinely doing because when you are in a relationship where it is not one-sided and You have come to the conclusion where there are certain sacrifices that you have to take to make the relationship work just like if it was a friendship or relationship you just do things because It's something that you genuinely want to do it's not like you're like, oh Let me go, you know Read my Bible, I guess because if not, God's gonna strike me that is the opposite of an authentic relationship with the Lord and I feel like We need as as a body we need to stop with the whole, you know trying to How do I say this like push? People to do something that may not be what they generally intend to do Like, of course, it's important to encourage people to read the Bible to fellowship with other believers But if the intention of them doing that is simply because they want to be perceived as a good Christian quote-unquote then that defeats the whole purpose of having a general relationship with the Lord because God doesn't do stuff for us because he's like I have to do it. It's because he wants to do it and that's on our end that's something that we have to you know, sadly we have to battle it because our flesh doesn't want to do those things, but we have to come over that hurdle and do what we must do because I Was there I was at a point in my life where I was like, hmm Let me read my Bible because like I feel like I have to but now it's like when I read the Bible I want to and I even learn more things from wanting to read the Bible because it's like now, you know Wanting to understand him more through his word. It's starting to it gets me excited Like I don't feel dreadful when I'm reading the Bible these days. Like I'm like this is Absolutely amazing and I do have those moments where I'm like, oh my goodness I have to read my Bible, but I pray or I listen to gospel music or I Tell one of my friends like this is something that I'm dealing with right now and I don't want to do it so please like give me that push to go and do it or pray for me to move forward and do this thing that will strengthen my my relationship with the Lord because if not, I'm going to literally spiral and You know, that's that that that would be another episode about relationships for sure but that that I just really had to let that out because it's been An interesting trend I shall say so now continuing our topic about idolatry. Let's read Exodus 34 verse 14 I'm reading from the NIV version and it says do not worship any other God For the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God. So as we know worship is the feeling or expression Toward the deity something that we use that we view of a higher power or status And a deity is a god goddess or divine thing Connected to quality or its nature So calling myself out. I love kdramas, right? Like I will binge watch kdramas for hours because you know kdrama episodes. They're like minimum 45 minutes and It's like okay. How can you watch like five episodes five 45 minute episodes of? You know your kdrama, right? Okay do your thing that's fine, but then you dread, you know Reading the Bible for at least 15 minutes like what's up with that and that really like when I started to notice those patterns and started to read Like more books about like disciplining our spirit our spirit, man I literally was like wow, this is this is really telling like our flesh and our spirit They're always like butting heads every single day like every single day when we wake up it's like pop up up up up up up and now I have to sit here and like really like think in my mind, how did Jesus do this because He was in the flesh For three three years, and I'm not saying because obviously he's been tempted before but he didn't even fall into temptation And it's literally like man you you're really my inspiration like I strive because it's difficult It can be really hard to try and set time for The Lord sometimes while when it's things like school work that relationship that friendship that movie You know that that event or whatever. We're like up and ready to go do what we need to do So like reading that and really like doing the notes and really like studying on idol worship I was like, oh my goodness I do I don't worship because I Be spending more time with my kdramas or maybe like a certain game or maybe like reading a quote-unquote secular book Or they're reading the word like that's absolutely crazy But I'm glad that I realized it now and hopefully maybe you guys listening to this you guys can Pinpoint, you know, what are some idols that I have myself like oh like this gets me so excited not because like period we have idols But it's like now we we we are getting to a point we understand like these are things that are hindering us which I'll get into in a moment, but like It's just so crazy Like I would have never thought in my mind That this was out of worship because I knew that there were different types of idol worship but I didn't think that, you know me binging shows and stuff like that would Would ultimately be a part of that category Until like a few weeks ago and really studying, you know idolatry in the first place so Yeah, it's just really interesting to look at and Basically if you're thinking girl, no, it's not an idol It is because anything that you see that is a higher value than God is Anything that that you find higher than that will be your idol So now you're wondering uh pause jealous Why would God be jealous? Don't worry girl. I got you. Let me let me let me break this down for you. Okay, so when I looked up jealous, there were three definitions and The main two that I wrote down so the jealous that we know like coming from a place of envy selfishness We know that type of jealous like you've got a new outfit and you got that one person It's like it's not even that pretty and now you're side-eyeing them because it's like Didn't you wear something similar to that? But now that I'm wearing it you got an issue That's like envious jealousy like you don't like the fact that someone has something that you would want to have or that you Used to have but maybe you don't like anymore like a whole bunch of lapalooza That is that form of jealousy, but the second definition Before even getting to the second definition that we need to remember that in Exodus 34 That was during the time of Moses and you know that whole thing Moses came down with the first Ten commandments. He's like coming down Mount Sinai. He's like, oh, I got these new rules and then he's seeing What are the Israelites doing? Idol worship. They are worshiping a golden calf made by yours truly Moses's brother And it gets Moses upset because he's like we just left You know the place where we're enslaved Jesus when I do well Jesus God God saved us from That experience and y'all are going back to the same things. He freed us from Gets upset throws the original What's I'm gonna call it Stones tape tablets and now he's like dang. I gotta go all the way back upstairs To Mount Sinai and talk to God again Ask for forgiveness and literally has usually written again because these people got me so upset And it's like Moses felt because sometimes I'd be upset too Which would be another episode about anger because I got you. We've all been there. We've all blown a fuse But anyways, so that's the context of Exodus 34, right? so When I looked up the second definition of jealous It said from that dictionary It said from that dictionary It said to be fiercely protective and it instantly made me think about like parents like any good parent If you see your kid doing something that they're not supposed to be doing, of course, you're going to be upset it just logically makes sense and you're not upset because you're Doing it from a place of envy like oh, I can't believe they're doing this Well, sometimes it can be that which will most definitely be another episode. Jeez. I'm gonna have a lot of episodes lord. Help me but being uh, um Uh fiercely protective comes from a place of love because you don't want to see someone you love and care for go through a certain experience Hear me now that could have been avoided If only they listen to you, but it really does depend about the delivery. I mean sometimes it's like no I can't be gentle about telling you certain stuff. Like I have to be a little bit firm but it is most definitely, you know important to know that when you are coming from From a place of love and a little bit of you know like you're guarded the first thing you're gonna do is be like instantly like Fierce, so that was the second definition of that jealousy so that would only make sense to the context of exodus 34 because God could have literally been like You broke the first two tablets. I'm not making you another one because Who's gonna be doing all that not me? But the fact that he still went and was like look I forgive you I understand what you saw made you upset, but please don't do that again and then made the ten commands we see now that just shows that God is just such an amazing and loving god because out of like when you read the bible There are so many times when god could have left us alone And there are certain books in the bible that shows what happens when god leaves us alone like entirely and it's hectic like Chaos is not even the word for it, which we can talk about later. But um, yeah, it's it's You know, he gives us that that chance to show us like Even though you've done this and it did hurt me I'm still willing to protect you and i'm still willing to love you and i'm still willing to do all of these things If you pull your weight, that's when we go back to the relationship topic Like you've got to do your part as well You can't sit here and be a lump on a stick And just think that god's gonna do all these things when it's like you've got to also do the work yourself as well um So just looking at that, uh, we now understand from the context of Um exodus 34 verse 14 that god's jealousy comes from a place of passion Through that passionate act like I said earlier like a parent god is not jealous from a place of envy but from a place of protection Sometimes like I always tell my friends. I think I can handle stuff and then when I actually go through that stuff i'm like Dang I couldn't handle it and it's it's it's sort of like that. So You know seeing god as our parent. Well, he is our father. It just all connects so well, and it's super cool It's really cool So now you may be wondering like, okay, so I get that part, but your definition literally said That idolatry could be loving, you know Worshipping and having some form of reverence towards someone in something So if we do that, wouldn't that be idolatry? And the answer is no because idolatry comes from a place of One-sidedness You expect the thing that you idolize to do this one thing all the time, but we understand that even in the bible God works in many different and miraculous ways that will be way over our perception of what we think Is right, which is why when we pray about things we pray that it aligns with god's will not ours because god moves and works Like that it's really interesting sometimes Because it's easier said than done That you know when we pray for something we want god to do it instantly like that and sometimes it is the case but most times he really wants to Push us and strengthen us and the things that we lack on sometimes because to be honest, we all have things that we lack on Okay um, but it's just important to Remember that, you know with the spiritual freedom that comes with following god and us believers that ultimately sheds off the idea of Worshiping god as idolatry because when you just idolize something Not only do you expect something from the thing that you're idolizing but now you're creating an atmosphere where it's like If I pray to this thing This is What I expect this thing to do for me And this is what I expect to do in return and you don't change. It's like an ongoing cycle. It's like you're like I promise to read this chapter of this book And then keep holding the book off expecting the book for some reason to give you some information that you need from things that you have not read and then when it's time for you to do that assignment you're behind because You don't you didn't do anything. You didn't work for anything. You didn't change any behaviors to maintain the To retain the information you got from the book and the book is still there not doing anything It's not going to affect you because it's most of our idols, especially in our modern day um world it It doesn't do anything for us. I can binge watch kdramas for days But the kdrama will still be there but me maybe I haven't slept right in a few weeks because of that kdrama Maybe i'm thinking of certain thoughts because of of me watching from that kdrama. This is not by the way This is not an anti-kdrama Podcast. I love kdramas, but it's just important to know your limits sometimes Because especially during school like I would overwork myself and I would think by me overworking myself in my assignments That would give me You know the the bigger push to to be better in my academics when the truth is the academics will still be there but me idolizing the idea of The the more or the harder I work in my academics i'll be better that actually Was not true and I had to take a minute and I had to really pray about Why do I idolize, you know my grades? Why do I think this this and that like it was a personal thing, of course But when you idolize something nothing in you changes for the better If anything you end up attaching yourself to more spiritual burdens Than what you would have probably already gotten, you know without the idol itself and i'm not saying that you will never get burdens You know In your life, but it's just important to know that why go through all those burdens completely by yourself because that Gaming set that boyfriend that girlfriend that job if you're idolizing those things those people those Occupations will still be there But you're going to be here suffering and then you're going to be wondering why are you in this whole situation in the first place? That's what we need. We need this is why i'm glad I started the episode with accountability because if you don't hold yourself accountable to the things you idolize you are going to Just be you know stranded alone in situations that Most of them you you were never intended to be in but you Put yourself in that position because you chose to put one thing over god or even like on a responsibility level You put one thing over your responsibilities and now you are stranded you can't do anything because That job will still be there Those grades will still be there that person even if you break up with that person that person that you use today will still be there so it's better to Put something that is um that is not only spiritually attainable, but something that will Help you in the long run in someone in some sort of importance Rather than idolizing things that will hurt you and will just leave you there to basically be stranded on a deserted island You know in a spiritual sense, of course And another thing I want to point out is that when we worship god we have the choice To worship god when you idolize something It's like once you idolize that thing you are stuck with it for almost the rest of your life until you know You pray for that Um thing that is binding you with that idol to be you know broken off. That's gonna be a part of you You know, I know people who especially back in my middle school days who would like be on the phone with people For a long time and like end up sleeping on the phone with people like you wake up. It's a new school day You're still on the phone iPad tablet, whatever samsung iphone trap phone will be hot I'm, like there is no way like I don't understand The logic behind it and not only are you damaging your sleep, but you're damaging. Maybe they missed out on an assignment Maybe they missed out on practice like things that that are In in your list of responsibilities that you should have completed that you didn't complete Now it's all for waste because you chose to idolize this one thing Versus versus other things and then when everything starts crashing down you start, you know to get bad grades or you start maybe some other Friendships or relationships you have starts to crumble because you're making this one relationship a higher priority than the others It's just a whole bunch of love a loser. That's what I keep on trying to tell you But at least when we worship god we have the choice to do we want to read the bible or do we want to do this? But the thing that's that we also need to know is that we're responsible for our choice If we choose to read the bible from a genuine perspective, I mean a genuine a genuine sense Or we choose to you know pray for 15 minutes to to an hour and such and such we do those things in a genuine um from a genuine aspect we will Get the reward we will get um those blessings that we have been praying for due to our choice of doing that but if we choose to I'm gonna push this bible study to the side I'm gonna push me doing this and all that stuff to the side Then you will get certain consequences for those things too because everything in this life is a choice So at least when you worship god you have the choice to do the things that you Want to do you just need to be ready for the consequences good or bad that comes with it rather than idolatry It's like a one-way street like you don't get anything good from idolatry Like dm me and tell me when you've gotten anything good from idolizing something that will literally be there Like days months years, whatever forward while you're still suffering like this is a genuine question because in Christianity when you have a relationship with god, it's either you have a relationship with god genuinely or you don't and if you choose to This is what's gonna happen if you choose not to this is what's gonna happen But while idolatry it's like if you do this, this is most definitely what's gonna happen There there's no like, you know It's like you're you're you're you're in the little rat like maze thingamabobs And like they're just going all over the place trying to find a piece of cheese And they smell the piece of cheese, but like nine times out of ten, there's no cheese in there So now they're just like all over the place But it's like if the rat has the common sense they would be like hey I'm looking around. I don't see anything So i'm going to choose not to run around anymore because i'm looking dumb, you know I'm a lab rat like that's not what I was created for. So What is like let me just sit here and wait for my cheese to come Like they would have the choice But when you don't realize that you don't have the choice because you're blinded by idolatry You're gonna be just like that rat going all over the place in that little box trying to find something that's not even there So You know to end off this podcast because I do not want to take too long Let's pray Um, I pray that to those out there who have idols and this is also including myself Um things that we put above god that we put on a high pedestal in our lives whether it's emotionally spiritually Physically or even mentally god Um, I ask for them to be cast down. I ask for all of these idols to be cast down Even if I personally don't know or the person listening may not know what their idols are We pray that it is revealed unto us. So it does not grow into a burden in jesus name. Amen So that is the end of my podcast. Sorry for taking up y'all's time Um, but i'm just so grateful. I love the uh Interactions and all of the great positive messages i've gotten from my first episode Uh, I would try my best to be as consistent as possible because right now I am in I'm on summer break. Sorry not in i'm on summer break And i'm really excited to see how this goes into my school year. I didn't even introduce myself. I forgot But I just really needed to have this Um recorded and I just was really excited for you guys to hear it and I can't wait to hear what you guys think If you have any questions or any prayer requests, you guys already know the deal You can just dm me on my instagram, which is in my bio and god loves you, and I love you guys so much Bye