So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone." Genesis 35:2-3
Jacob tells his household to get rid of the foreign gods.............
Footnote:
Why did the people have these idols ("foreign gods")? Idols were sometimes seen more as good luck charms than as gods. Some Israelites, even though they worshiped God, had idols in their homes, just as some Christians today own good luck trinkets. Jacob believed that idols should have no place in his household. He wanted nothing to divert his family's spiritual focus.
Jacob ordered his household to get rid of their gods. Unless we remove idols from our lives, they can ruin our faith. What idols do we have? An idol is anything we put before God. Idols don't have to be physical objects; they can be thoughts or desires. Like Jacob, we should get rid of anything that could stand between us and God.
It would be tempting to read this passage and not give it much thought but when you realize that an idol is really anything that you put before God, it's easy to see our need to "get rid of the foreign gods" in our own lives as well.
Keep reading -- 354 days left!
All footnotes taken from the Life Application Study Bible, NIV.
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