October 22 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

God is invisible. And God is unimaginable—outside of Jesus Christ, at least.

Image-making is foolish, but it often happens with the best of intentions. Even pagan people did not mean to say that the (often ugly) image they created was a picture of their god. Instead they meant to say that the power of their god was captured or concentrated in the statue or object. It was a way to get control over their god—a way to handle, manipulate, use the power of their god.

When Christians began to make images, they certainly did not mean to say that the crucifix, for example, had any power. They only intended to remind worshipers of Jesus' love and power. But since all people are inclined to superstition, the symbol soon became identified with the reality it stood for. That's how the church got thousands of holy objects, all regarded with superstitious reverence.

By God's grace, a large part of the church was cleansed of this superstition. But that did not mean Christians were forever safe from sins against the second commandment. The danger of committing idolatry with images is always present.

Ministers and church leaders, for example, are in danger of making their church organization the graven image for which they lay their lives on the altar. And many ordinary Christians have a set way in which they worship God and a time-honored liturgy. Sometimes these forms of worship become more important to them than worship itself. God is caught in the image. The form becomes more important than the purpose. The sound of a certain Bible translation becomes more precious than the message.

But the God who reveals himself as the Father of Christ also determines how he will be worshiped. God does not want us to make images—God wants us to be images, newly created in Christ Jesus. The people God has redeemed are better pictures of the invisible God than anything we could make.

REFLECTIONS

Try restating this commandment in a way that applies to you and how you worship God.

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.