Before the Israelites entered into the land that God was giving them there was a LOT that He needed them to know. He knew they would face new people, new customs, new practices and new gods. God wanted them to be clear about how they should deal with all the new-ness that they would face
One example of this is the verse below which deals specifically with what they should do with the gods they encounter in their new land.
The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the LORD your God. Deuteronomy 7:25
I love how specific God was here. He wasn’t saying “do not worship these gods” – He’d already dealt with that. In this instance He was ensuring that they didn’t take any part of them, not even the bits that might seem useful to their lives. Of course God is referring to physical idols and shrines here (I wrote about this recently) but the concept of “borrowing” is interesting in our context today.
Too often we look at the idols/gods in our culture; sex, celebrity, money, leisure, or even other faiths, and whilst we are unlikely to bow down and devote ourselves wholly to them, they are parts of them we covet, parts of them we may steal. We borrow the parts we like or may have value to us.
“I love the mindfulness of Buddhism”
“I should be able to express myself sexually in the way that feels natural to me”
We must heed Gods warning here.
We will become ensnared by those things!
Even as I think of a snare that is used to trap an animal, it is not the whole of the animal that is ensnared but a part of it e.g. A leg or a tail. Even though it might be a small part proportionally, it ensures that the whole animal is trapped.
The same goes for us if we just pick and choose the parts we like from these other gods. I want to ensure that l stay wholly devoted to God and although there will be other things that grab my attention elsewhere I must not include them – no matter how small they may seem.