PEA RIDGE — A pastor was visiting oversees and was talking with a lady who is a worshipper of many gods.

The pastor was attempting to share Christ with the woman, but knowing that he was an American, she began to question his belief in one God. She said to him, I have been to America and seen the great coliseums and arenas built to their gods. You can also see that their god is their stomach. The pastor reflected on the conversation and thought about the situation. He realized that here is this country that has golden idols throughout the streets, and many people come and light candles to their gods.

They worship animals and nature, but these idols have no redeeming power.

However, the statement the woman made was correct.

In America, we do worship our sports and our stomachs.

At some point, most of us have heard of the Ten Commandments. The first of these commandment is “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3 NKJV). What we have done is identified idols as statues that people light candles and pray in front of. The problem is that an idol is anything that takes the place of where Jesus properly belongs.

Idols can be sports, food, alcohol, music, children, husband, wife or a job. The truth is that we all have idols around us that are competing with our time with Christ. Scripture is constantly reminding us that our love of God is what should drive us. His love should compel us.

This does not mean that sports are in them selves an evil thing. I believe competition is healthy. There is a lot of learning that kids can learn as they compete against each other. The problem came for me a few years ago as I was watching my favorite college football team. They were driving down the field to score a winning touchdown, and as they scored my usual celebration ensued. I was excited - jumping and shouting as we won the game.

The people in the stand were shouting and high-fiving each other. Grown men hug total strangers and smiles gleam so proudly that nothing can steal the joy of that moment. It was in one of these moments that the Lord spoke to my heart and said “I wish you cheered for me this way.” That was it. So simple, but yet so true.

What if we cheered for Jesus the way we cheeredfor our favorite team, or searched the Scriptures the way we search Facebook? What about food? I love to eat and I would say that most of you do to. It is something that we have to do to survive. Has your mouth ever salivated over a steak that is being kissed by the flames? The baked potato has steam rising off of it and the butter is melting. After eating the steak and potato, we saved just a little room in our stomach for a helping of peach cobbler with a scoop of ice cream. Honestly, I can be controlled by such a meal.

Scripture describes the words of God like honey.

It is to be like honey dripping off our lips. So sweet and so desired. What if we desired Scripture the way we desired a steak dinner?

Our mouth salivated as we eagerly awaited the Word to speak to us.

“How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth.” (Psalm 119:103 NKJV)

In my own life, I know at times that I have allowed idols to take the place of Christ’s love. The things that I put into the place where He belongs are there because I am seeking to fill my heart with emptiness instead of the love of Christ. There are huge arenas and stadiums that thousands of fans cheer on their favorite teams. However, there are things that are all around us that take the place where the supremacy of Jesus belongs. Inspect the holes in your heart and search what is there.

Is there some longing that you have that in the past you have tried to fill with something other than the love of Jesus Christ? You are not alone. We all have in some capacity let idols creep into our hearts. Do the inventory of your heart and allow the Holy Spirit to work through you and submit to the One that can fill your heart with faith, hope and love.

Editor’s note: Michael Smith is the youth pastor at First Baptist Church, Pea Ridge.

Church, Pages 2 on 02/17/2010