Psalm 115:3-8 tells us:
“Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.
But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands.
They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see.
They have ears, but cannot hear noses, but cannot smell.
They have hands, but cannot feel,feet, but cannot walk,
nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
Those who make them will be like them and so will all who trust in them.
The Psalmist compares the greatness of God to the worthlessness of idols, and thus the foolishness of worshipping idols! God is alive and more than that He is sovereign. He can do anything He wills to do … and nothing can stand in His way. But it’s not that way with idols. Idols are cast from metal or carved from wood or stone. They are statutes – unseeing, not smelling, unmoving, and not speaking. In truth, they have no life and are worthless.
So what does the Psalmist say of those who worship idols? That they will become like those they worship! That is still true today.
We live in a nation that is obsessed with celebrities. Notice the magazines at the grocery checkout line. Notice the popularity of celebrity-filled “reality” shows. Notice the most popular searches on Google. Our nation knows far more about Britney Spears, Kim Kardashian, Brad Pitt, and Tom Cruise than they know the our Founding Fathers, the members of the Supreme Court, or even the amount of taxes that are taken from paychecks each week!
We admire celebrities. We want their money, their fame, their toned and tanned bodies. But do we REALLY want their lives? Their lives look like stories from fairy tales but look closer and often times we find it true that all that glitters is not gold. It’s all about maintaining an image, but that image is often empty and chaotic. They are like the idols – they are, in fact, our American idols, and we must be careful that we do not become like them.
Be Transformed 