By: Steve Wilmot
Substitute goods are similar products a customer can use for the same purpose. For example: eyeglasses or contact lenses, satellite or cable TV, a hardback, paperback, or e-book, butter or margarine, tea or coffee, Pepsi or Coca-Cola.
Sometimes a customer may pick the substitute if the price is lower, or their preferred product is unavailable.
Substitute products provide valuable options. If you want tea instead of coffee, it’s simply a matter of preference, not right or wrong.
But not all choices are so inconsequential. Some of them affect every aspect of your life.
That’s the case with who you decide will be God of your life. Who or what gets supremacy of your worship, loyalty, priorities, and love. Whether you choose God Almighty or any of the hundreds of substitute gods vying to replace the one true God, your choice is pivotal.
Pause and ask yourself: Am I worshiping God or substitute gods — idols? Don’t be too quick with a knee-jerk answer. “I don’t worship any idols. I don’t have any statuettes in my house I bow down to. No golden calf in the back yard.”
That’s the automatic answer we give because we don’t understand that idols come in many shapes and forms. Idols are anything we’ve allowed to become a substitute for God in our lives. Anything or anyone.
That’s the subtlety of idolatry. The things we worship seem so innocent, so normal. They have a legitimate place in our lives. Family. Friends. Work. Health. Success. Houses. Education. Retirement. Money. Status. Sports. Video games. Social networking. Food. Shopping.
That’s why we are blind to our idols. They aren’t evil, and they don’t look like things we worship. Give attention to? Yes. But worship? No.
So, let’s stop to ask a few questions that pull back the curtain and identify if we have idols in our lives. What do you pursue with passion?
What captures your attention? What gets the best hours of your day? Where do you turn for relief when you’re stressed out? When you have free time to do anything you want, what do you choose to do?
If “God” isn’t your answer to these questions, you need an honest evaluation of whether you have idols substituting for God.
The first two of the Ten Commandments address this issue. I am the Lord your God… You shall have no other gods before me. You must not make yourself an idol… You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods” (Exodus 20.2-5).
Every command God gives is for our benefit. It’s not God throwing his weight around or setting us up for failure so he can punish us. It’s not God showing us he’s boss. Not at all.
John Eldredge points out God not only deserves to be our one and only God, but “he knows what pain will come when we get that out of order.
If you give the part of your soul that’s meant for God to lesser things, they will break your heart because they cannot possibly come through for you in the ways God can. Only he will never leave you or forsake you. The command is a rescue from disaster.”
Wow. We must reject all lesser gods and worship God alone not only because he deserves it but because we need to. These other gods not only fail to do what they promise, they’ll break your heart, bring you pain, and lead you into disaster.
Only God is faithful. Only God fulfills his promises and delivers what he advertises. To give your heart that’s meant as the place for God reign to lesser things is a recipe for loneliness, emptiness, frustration, depression, bondage to sin, and misery.
With substitute goods, you are free to choose coffee one week and tea the next. But with God, it’s either/or, not both/and. Either God or other gods. Not God and other gods.
Yet isn’t that where many, if not most, Christians find themselves? They waver between devotion to false gods and the Lord God depending on what seems the best option at the time.
There may be substitute goods of equal value, but there is no substitute for the Lord God.
The phrase “there is no substitute” means there’s nothing that can replace or be an adequate alternative to something. Nothing can provide the same value or function.
As in there’s no substitute for experience… loyalty… truth… honesty. There is no substitute for God. Nothing can replace what he offers you or be an adequate alternative to him.
“Among the gods, there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours” (Psalm 86.8).
“There is no one like you, O Lord, and there is no God but you” (1 Chronicles 17.20).
Why would anyone choose a cheap substitute when they can have the real deal — the Lord God Almighty?
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Steve Wilmot is a former Edgerton, Ohio area pastor who now seeks “to still bear fruit in old age” through writing. He is the author of seven books designed to assist believers to make steady progress on their spiritual journey.
