Cling only to Jesus

Psalm 135:15-18 “ The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.”

Those who make idols and trust in them will become blinded just as the idols are blinded and will become deaf just as the idols themselves are deaf.

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There are a lot of big name pastors out there, and, naturally, people look up to them. It is soooo important, though, that in our minds we do not turn these pastors into an all-knowing, always-right being; putting our complete trust in them and accepting every word that comes out of their mouth without a second thought. These pastors are MEN, no matter how big of a church they have, no matter how good of a reputation they have, no matter how good they are with words…We CAN NOT put our trust in them. We put our trust in God, and in God alone. Even if a pastor seems to have the spiritual gift of teaching and prophesy, and seems to always preach the truth…he is still a man. And we do not put our trust in man. This is not to say that we shouldn’t listen to them; we should, and many times God works through men to bring us closer to him. However, we need to be holding up everything we hear to the word of God. Our priority should be the Bible, and that is where the majority of our time should be spent.

If, at any point, we begin to put men’s teaching above the teaching of the bible, then we are creating for ourselves an idol. And as Psalm 135 says, when make for ourselves idols and put our trust in them we become blinded. When we idolize pastors or leaders we become susceptible to any falsehood that may be creeping in. We become blind to any wrong teaching that may be going on because we have rooted ourselves in man’s word rather than God’s word. This is SO Dangerous, and that is why we NEED to be clinging to God’s Word as the only absolute truth. Because if we are not, it will be so easy for us to be deceived.

In contrast to this in John 8:31-32, Jesus says that, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” So when we make for ourselves idols, we become blinded to the truth, but when we put Jesus as our priority and follow his teachings, our eyes become opened to the truth. Let us cling only to Jesus and his word and let no man take His place in our lives so that our eyes and ears be open to the truth of the Gospel and to the instruction of the Holy Spirit. As 1 John 5:21 says, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.”