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by Jason DeZurik

Is it possible that we all have little gods?

The following text is directly from the 10 commandments that God Almighty Himself spoke and also wrote with His very own finger.

“Thou shall have no other gods before me.” - Exodus 20:3

Do you have other gods in your life that you worship? Is it possible that you are following other gods or serving other gods and don’t even realize it? Have you made idols in your life and are worshipping them?

Take a look at Exodus 20:4-6: “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

When I was younger I thought this was a bit silly and thought it didn’t really matter in my world. I thought things like, “Well of course I haven’t made any images or worship any other gods. How stupid.” In reality, I probably just worshiped myself back then and made myself a god. I did fake worshipping the God of the Bible though quite well.

As I get older and now that I am a follower of Jesus Christ, I actually recognize these things a little more than before I followed Christ.

Let me explain. In 1995, I accepted Jesus Christ as the Savior and Lord of my life. Back then I really enjoyed the game of football; it practically consumed my life. Even though I didn’t play the game anymore, I have been a life-long Minnesota Vikings fan who has been waiting that elusive Super Bowl win. With the recent field goal miss by Blair Walsh in a playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks, it brought back to my memory of another Minnesota Vikings game from the playoffs for the 1998 season.

The Minnesota Vikings that season had such a high powered offense, led by the unretired quarterback Randall Cunningham, and wide receivers Cris Carter, Jake Reed, and the talented Randy Moss. Their offensive line just clicked that season to open up holes for their running backs, Robert Smith and Leroy Hoard, that were so large that many times that it seemed they wouldn’t even be touched 3-5 yards after passing the line of scrimmage. This team had the highest powered offense to ever play the game, up to that point, in the NFL. They were the team to beat that year.

I followed the team that season like it was a religion. I had posters, books, and even a lot of clothing of the team.

Their kicker that year was Gary Anderson. No one would argue that he was easily the best place kicker of that season. He made every field goal and extra point he tried. He never missed once that season.

The Vikings that year made it to the conference final against the Atlanta Falcons. Suffice it to say everyone was pumped, including me! In that game, the Vikings had an opportunity to break a tie and win that game in regulation with a field goal. Gary Anderson missed his first field goal of that year. Then the Vikings had an opportunity to win in overtime, and Gary Anderson missed his second field goal that year. The Vikings ended up losing that game in overtime.

I, along with many other Vikings fans, were devastated. This was the year the Vikings would finally win the Super Bowl, or so we thought. The following week, I was pretty much worthless doing anything. This loss affected me that much. I was a youth pastor back then, and the night after the game we had youth group. I pretty much just let the youth do what they wanted and I just sat on a couch in the youth house that the church had. I was literally that emotionally and spiritually spent. After a week of sulking, I realized I needed to get over this and become productive again.

Thank the Lord that I was open to His leading back then, because I realized I had made the Minnesota Vikings and the NFL a god in my life - a god that was even more important than Almighty God. I allowed this little god to consume me and direct my life. I praise God that He never gave up on me, even though I was breaking His very first Commandment in the 10 Commandments. After that season, I still followed the team a bit but I needed to take a break from following many sports teams. I needed to put God back where He belonged. I needed to focus on Him.

Now, I am able to watch and cheer on teams in many different sports, but I do not take ownership of what’s going on. It’s not like I’m playing or working hard during the week to make the team better. I’m just someone, win or lose, who enjoys cheering on some teams for the time, but then I move on with the life that God has given to me.

As followers of Christ, we need to serve Him in all we do. Can we get together with family and friends and cheer on “our teams” that we support? Sure, why not? But keep in mind to keep God on the throne where He belongs. Without Him, you wouldn’t even be breathing or enjoying the game you are watching.

I encourage you to examine your own life and see what “little gods” that you might have created, possibly without even knowing it. In the coming weeks, I plan to write on a few more of these little gods that we seem to have created in our culture. We need to stop worshiping these gods in our lives and put Almighty God back on the throne. He deserves all of our praise and worship.

For further study, examine Psalm 1.

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