Today we continue in our series on the Ten Commandments. We come to the second commandment which teaches us: "You shall not make for yourself an idol." We are not to bow down to wood or stone. We learn that God is jealous for us against other false gods who seek us and that the consequences of worshiping false idols can be felt for a long period of time. It can not only hurt us, but our children as well.

I love the story told by a man in his 40s who went to hear an old-fashioned Baptist preacher talk about the Ten Commandments. The young man, after hearing the great sermon, said, "At least I haven’t made any idols." However, the young man was wrong. We, unfortunately, do create idols. Let me share an illustration here. Presbyterian author Fred Buechner writes: "Idolatry is the practice of…