1 John 5:21 --- Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
The journey in 1 John ends with 6 simple, yet powerful words. If you are just reading it to check off a religious box or as a textbook, it might be easy to feel this final verse is out of place. However, if you have walked through this in relationship with Jesus, seeking Him, listening for Him, looking for Him in it, then you realize this is the only sensible way to end this amazing book!
This entire book/letter, the whole journey over these past months has been all about the realness of Jesus, abiding with Him, walking with Him, our words we profess about Him lining up with our actions and ultimately, it's been about assuring that you KNOW that you KNOW Him. So, after all this time spent focused on knowing we have real relationship with our very real God, the closing sentence is to protect us from one of the deadliest things to a relationship… idols.
The first thing that jumped out to me was the word "Keep". Other versions use the word "Guard". So, let's go deeper because it's important we understand this final command we're given.
Here is what the Merriam-Webster dictionary says on these:
Keep - to maintain a course, direction or progress; to continue usually without interruption; to persist in a practice; Stay, Remain; Abstain, Refrain
Guard - to protect from danger especially watchful attention; to make secure; to stand at the entrance of as if on guard or as a barrier; to tend to carefully; Preserve, Protect.
Now we go from English over to the Greek and here the word used is phylassō and it means: to watch, be on guard, to preserve, obey, avoid; beware, keep (self), observe, save.
Okay, I know English and Greek definitions at 6:00 AM on Sun isn't what anyone wants, but God chose to put His Word into writing, so it's vital we slow down and really hear Him in it. Seeing deeper into these words gives clearer direction on what we're being commanded to do here.
Now let's clearly understand what an idol is so we can be on high alert guarding and keeping ourselves from it.
Merriam-Webster defines Idol as: an object of extreme devotion. The Greek word used is eidōlon and means an image, false god.
Most people get it as soon as they hear the word idol, but I also know we quickly start going through our list of things to justify, rationalize or deceive ourselves into why they aren't idols.
This led me over to Colossians 3:5 --- "So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world."
The Amplified Bible ends Colossians 3:5 like this, "… and greed, which is [a kind of] idolatry [because it replaces your devotion to God]."
From a commentary I read: "Idolatry, whether obvious (praying to a statue) or subtle (living for your career or someone other than God) will always choke out a real relationship with God, and damage our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Jesus."
So, the picture of idolatry comes into clear focus. It is anything that replaces our devotion to God. Any person, thing, or pursuit we devote ourselves to over God, hold higher than God, prioritize before God or causes us to think less of God. That is an idol.
From Guzik's commentary:
"This speaks against obvious, visible idols.
This speaks against worshipping yourself. We can do this by overindulgence in food or drink, by laziness, or by too much concern about how we look or what we wear.
This speaks against worshipping wealth.
This speaks against worshipping some hobby or pursuit.
This speaks against worshipping dear friends or relatives."
I'll throw in Netflix, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Video Games, Preachers/Teachers/Pastors, Careers, Politicians, etc…
Listen, I'm not some high holier than thou, got it all figured out, picture perfect, nice, and tidy super Christian who is disconnected from the reality of actual life...and I do mean life in the trenches where money doesn't flow like water, but the problems and bills do. So, I get it. Life can be demanding and sometimes a crushing grind to have money for groceries and gas, let alone fix the air conditioner in your 13 year old mini van. Now, don't hear me being defeated because I'm not. My focus isn't on these things, it's on my God. It's on His Word! It's on walking with Jesus! He was clear in John 16:33 as long as we're here, it'll be trials and sorrows, but He has overcome this world! So, you better believe my focus is on walking with Him and having Him walk with me!
So when talking about getting rid of idols and making God priority in your daily life, I'm not trying to paint some smile and pray and all your problems go away, type of disconnected rubbish. Life is demanding but we cannot simply shrug our shoulders and keep God on a dusty shelf, taken down only when needed in emergency, only on Sundays from 9am-12pm, and expect that we will have a relationship with Him or see His promises truly fulfilled. We won't and we've learned apart from a real relationship with Him we are powerless, which leads to being frustrated, depressed, oppressed and driven by our emotions, feelings, the world, and the enemy.
This is why you absolutely must KEEP and GUARD yourself from idols!
How?
By sitting down right now and resolving once and for all that He is the absolute top priority in your life. It begins with you making the tough decision that He is above everything else. It doesn't mean praying and reading your Bible 16 hours a day. It's deciding relationship with Him is more important than Netflix, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Work, etc... Then, put action to your resolution by setting 60, 30, 20, or even 10 minutes of time to read His actual word (your Bible or Bible App - not just some 1 min devotional) and pray/talk with Him, every day. It is resolving inside Jesus is real and you intend to seek out and have real relationship with Him, to get to know Him, to trust Him, to walk with Him. That only happens when you spend time with Him. If I stopped talking and listening to my wife, Amanda, there'd be some MAJOR issues real fast. So why do I approach God different? I better not be. He's real and He's priority! Then finally, I stay on guard, constantly aware of any person, thing, or pursuit that draws away my devotion away from God, that I start holding higher than God, that I prioritize before God or causes me to think less of God. Those things must be gotten rid of or put back in their proper places in our lives.
It's your choice how much intentionality and effort you're willing to put into it. Choose wisely.
Well, I've said a whole lot, and I pray I didn't ramble too much, as there was just so much wrapped up in the closing 6 steps of this epic journey and adventure with God through the book of 1 John. Be the Berean, open your Bible, ask God to speak to You in His word, then give Him the chance by reading through and seeing what He says to you on all this!
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