"When most people hear the word idolatry, they think of pagans worshiping statues and assume, "That's one subject that can't apply to me." Oh, yes it can.
You don't have to keep a carved, wooden tiki idol in your backyard to be an idolater. You don't have to visit a Buddhist shrine. Any time you worship the thing God created as a god, that's idolatry.
We can get so caught up in the things of this world - jobs, money, people, material things - that we forget our purpose here on earth. We should live in the world but not of the world. Spend some time analyzing your walk with the Lord. Are there things that you are placing above your relationship with God? Ask Him to reveal things in your life that are being placed above God." - Tony Evans
1 John 2:15-17
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
Out of his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you the mighty inner strengthening of his Holy Spirit.
—Ephesians 3:16 (TLB)
"Horace Pitkin, the son of a wealthy merchant, was converted and went to China as a missionary. He wrote to his friends in America, saying, “It will be but a short time till we know definitely whether we can serve Him better above or here.” Shortly afterward, a mob stormed the gate of the compound where Pitkin defended the women and children. He was beheaded and his head was offered at the shrine of a heathen god, while his body was thrown into a pit with the bodies of nine Chinese Christians.
Sherwood Eddy, writing about him, said, “Pitkin won more men by his death than he ever could have won by his life.” Christ needs people today who are made of martyr stuff! Dare to take a strong, uncompromising stand for Him." - Billy Graham
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