One bedrock principle of Western culture is the concept of competition. This ubiquitous tenet permeates virtually every area and level of society. In the business sector, competition is fierce and unrelenting as manufacturers seek, if possible, to put their competitors out of business. Competition, so fundamental in the areas of sports and politics, costs fortunes yearly in order that a certain athlete or team may dominate the competition and to prove that a candidate or party and their agenda will give voters more than the competition offers.
While not criticizing quality, craftsmanship or integrity, we as believers need to realize that the principle of competition, so ingrained in this present world, can have a marked effect on our personal, daily fellowship with our blessed Lord Jesus Christ.
Competition for Our Hearts
Let none be mistaken. Someone or something is constantly competing against the precious Saviour for our hearts and minds. Time and time again Jehovah solemnly warned His beloved earthly people against allowing their hearts to be enticed away from Him and attached to idols. He is a jealous God (Ex. 20:55Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; (Exodus 20:5)). Such idols (whether Baal, Molech, Ashteroth or others) clearly robbed the place in the Israelites’ hearts that Jehovah alone deserved.
In the New Testament, the same danger exists for believers. Thus the solemn exhortation in 1 John 5:2121Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. (1 John 5:21): “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”
In Christianity, idols aren’t wood or metal images of demon gods. Often they’re harmless, even necessary things, such as professions, homes, recreation, friends and education. But they all can become idols if allowed to usurp the place in the heart’s affection that Christ alone is worthy of having and the satisfaction that He alone can give. “God is satisfied with Jesus. We are satisfied as well” (Little Flock Hymnbook, #57).
Scriptural Examples and Warnings
In the Old Testament, some godly kings, such as Hezekiah, began their bright and faithful reigns by destroying the idols that had supplanted worship due Jehovah (see 2 Kings 18:3636But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not. (2 Kings 18:36)). In the New Testament, we read of the Thessalonians who, upon receiving Christ by faith, are described as having turned to God from idols (1 Thess. 1:99For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; (1 Thessalonians 1:9)). Paul pleads with the Corinthians to “flee from idolatry” (1 Cor. 10:1414Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. (1 Corinthians 10:14)) while instructing the Colossian believers that “covetousness [lusting after things one does not have] is idolatry” (Col. 3:55Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: (Colossians 3:5)).
We know in principle what constitutes an idol. The most pressing issue, however, is how to deal with the idols that compete for our hearts’ affections.
Proactive Christianity
Dealing with idols begins by daily seeking grace that our affections not be stolen away by the competition-competition which would supplant Jesus Christ as the supreme object of our delight.
What does worldly competition have to offer that could possibly be better than known, enjoyed fellowship with the Father and with the Son?
Reactive Christianity
We specially beseech parents to soberly weigh the dangers of the world’s competition to steal their children’s hearts from the Lord Jesus and His Word.
Satan’s ways are so subtle that often the world slips unnoticed into Christian homes. We are specially concerned with the subtle dangers of visual excitement available through the use of home computers equipped with DVD-CD drive capabilities (or the more common stand-alone video players).
If prayerfully controlled, these devices can provide useful learning activities and some healthy recreation. But the exciting appeal of electronic visual imaging quickly captures children’s attention and imagination, making it easy to allow into their hearts and minds morally abominable and destructive images deadly competitors with Christ that often are cloaked as angels of light.
One sad result of careless, unrestrained viewing of such imagery is that the Bible will seem dull and boring to children’s minds. Electronic media’s color, sound, action and fantasy can become an almost insurmountable competitor. If it does, neither parents nor children will say, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart” (Jer. 15:1616Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15:16)).
Wagons and Flags
Joseph sent wagons to carry the little ones to him (Gen. 45:1919Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. (Genesis 45:19)). They morally speak of objects and activities in the realm of nature a realm that, if denied to children, forces them to flee to the very world parents seek to keep from them. But parents must use Joseph’s wagons in the fear and wisdom of God, for they are only a means to an end.
When baby Moses had to be placed in the river, the ark which protected him was hidden in the flags (water reeds) near the bank, not in the middle of the rushing torrent (Ex. 2:35). Flags morally suggest the protective value of carefully controlled, natural activities. Where prayerfully used and controlled, these flags can help keep children from being swept away by the current of this “present evil world” (Gal. 1:44Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: (Galatians 1:4)).
However, once the wagons got the children to Joseph, we hear no more of them. And once Moses’ mother was allowed by Pharaoh’s daughter to be his nurse, Moses and the ark were taken away (to his home, no doubt), not left in the flags (1 Cor. 13:1111When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. (1 Corinthians 13:11))!
Overcoming the Competition
Dad and Mom! You must daily have the joy of the Lord in reality for yourself. When this is so, your children will want what they see you enjoying. Consider the vital principles for overcoming the world’s competition for your lambs that are found in Deuteronomy 11:18-2118Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. 19And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 20And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: 21That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth. (Deuteronomy 11:18‑21) (as well as earlier in Deuteronomy 6:69).
18. “Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.”
Is the Word of God the preeminent source of your personal joy and satisfaction, guiding what you do (“hands”) and what you think (“frontlets”)?
19. “And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
If you love and live the Bible, you can speak effectively of it to your children at home, in the world, at rest or at work. His Word is always applicable, ever satisfying, our chief delight, to be continually relished and shared with our children.
20. “And thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thine house, and upon thy gates.”
If you want to overcome the world’s competition for your children’s hearts, the Word of God must be the support (“doorposts”) of your home, as well the guard to its entrance (“gates”).
The world that spit in the face of the blessed Saviour-Creator, casting Him out and crucifying Him, is a place of death, sorrow and darkness. That is the reality lying under its fake veneer of glossy excitement. But our God promises those who love and obey His Word the richest delights, joys and life even like unto the joy and bliss of heaven blessings which are available right now in the family circle.
What can possibly compete with that?
Ed.