American Idols - Joshua 24:23

  
 “Now therefore,” he said, “put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord God of Israel.” - Joshua 24:23.

    I have heard it said that Christians in America suffer from circumstances  similar to the Jews in Egypt. Personally, I believe the parallel is dubious at best. In particular, I cite one major reason for the failure of this example. Idolatry.
    In Egypt there was a pantheon of idols. The Egyptians called them “gods,” but make no mistake: they were nothing if they weren’t idols. Even the Pharaoh was worshiped as a god. But who did the Israelites worship? “And he blessed Joseph, and said: ‘God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, the Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; let my name be named upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.” - Genesis 48:15-16. Clearly the God of Abraham was the sole focus of the Israelites in Egypt. It was indeed the clearest indicator of an Israelite; so clear that the Pharaoh was easily able to identify the Chosen People and thus mark them for bondage. “But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage - in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.” - Exodus 1:12-14.
    The Israelites in Egypt were set aside (made holy?) for persecution and enslavement because they were fruitful and mighty . . . and they worshiped the one true God of Abraham. So how does this concept translate to modern day America? The fact is - it doesn’t; it can’t because Christians today are barely distinguishable from the idol worshipers of this nation. Remember: the Israelites were easily recognized and easily observed because they worshiped the one true God, not idols.
    While we no longer worship the gods of rain or the gods of prosperity or the gods of health, we still worship enough idols in America to be virtually indistinguishable from those who we dare call “unbelievers.” Face it, unless we speak of our faith in Jesus Christ how many of us would actually be perceived as such based solely on our outward behavior?
“Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” - Romans 13:13-14.
    It was by the way the Israelites walked that the Egyptians were so easily able to ostracize them and enslave them. They walked as Abraham and Isaac walked before God. Are we not called today to do the same? “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” - 1 John 2:6.
    No, the Israelites in Egypt were not perfect, nor are we but we have been called to make such perfection our sanctifying goal. “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” - Matthew 5:48. Can you imagine the effect on this nation if just we Christians could walk as we have been instructed to walk? “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?"  - 2 Corinthians 6:14.
    Let us today put away our American idols so that all the world can see us as a people set apart by God almighty. “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.” - Colossians 2:6-7.