Four years ago I spent seven weeks doing missions work in Turkey. During my time there, I took a tour of Ephesus - a New Testament Historical site- where I saw the statue pictured above. Her name is ‘Diana’ (also known as Artemis,) the great goddess of fertility. Temples were built in her honor. Riots were formed in her defence. Somehow she captivated the hearts of the people and caused a lot of drama amongst the early Christians in Ephesus. (Acts 19)

Walking down the streets amongst the ruins and rubble of what was once a thriving city, I could easily pick out what these people once lived for: Diana. She was their idol.

Throughout the Bible, we are warned and commanded to stay away from idols. Sure as Christians in North America we are not faced with this sort of idolatry. We don’t wake up every morning and bow to a statue. Unfortunately, our idols are much more discrete… and often masquerade themselves so that we don`t realize they are there.

An idol- defined simply- is anything that takes top priority in our lives. They are the things we give most of our time to, spend most of our money on, and think about most often . It usually starts out as something good, but then we take it to the extreme,- devoting ourselves to it and somehow allowing it to define who we are. It could be a relationship, job, hobby, education, etc.

I think it’s safe to say we all have something we idolize in our lives. It’s time to find out what they are, get rid of them, and give Christ the  top priority He deserves.

Jess