You must demolish completely all the places where the nations whom you are about to dispossess served their gods, on the mountain heights, on the hills, and under every leafy tree. Break down their altars, smash their pillars, burn their sacred poles with fire, and hew down the idols of their gods, and thus blot out their name from their places. You shall not worship the Lord your God in such ways. But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes as his habitation to put his name there. You shall go there. Deuteronomy 12:2-5
“[This text] explicitly commands God’s people not just to avoid idolatry but also to demolish, break down, smash, burn, hew down, and blot out the names of those idols. For us, the word idol conjures up images of primitive people offering sacrifices to crude carved images. But an idol is anything we praise, celebrate, fixate on, and look to for help that’s not the true God.
Jesus says we cannot serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24). We’re told that greed is idolatry (Colossians 3:5), like lust is adultery. The New Testament recognizes a figurative sort of high places, where Christ’s people worship false gods instead of the one true God. Like Israel’s kings, we have the responsibility to topple all the idols in our own lives in order to give Jesus full Lordship. The fact that they didn’t use their power and authority to remove the high places and worship God alone should be a sobering reminder to us.
When the apostle John wrote to Christ-followers near the end of the first century, most had nothing to do with carved idols. Still, his final words to them in the letter of 1 John were, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (5:21). The New Living Translation captures the meaning this way: “Keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.”
Randy Alcorn in What Are the “High Places” in the Old Testament, and How Does That Apply to Us Today? Eternal Perspective Ministries blog post 14 November 2018.
GTP is hosting a webinar on 28 August 2020 on “Succession Planning for Sustainability” and as part of it, I am offering a biblical perspective on the role of the board and the responsibilities of the CEO.
When it comes to the work of the CEO, like those who lead God’s people in the Old Testament, we have to trust God with our whole heart and tear down the “high places” that contain idols to other gods.
The biblical command it not to avoid them but destroy what can tempt us to misplace our trust. No wonder Jesus told us to store up treasures in heaven rather than on earth. As Alcorn says elsewhere, “My heart always goes where I put God’s money.”
This means that individuals as well as CEOs must avoid stockpiling money as it does not sustain us. God sustains us. Our role is to put to work what He supplies obediently. Are you? For more insight, join us on the webinar.
And here’s a prayer that Alcorn prays for each of us linked to this idea: May God give us His grace to recognize the idols in our lives, and, by turning to Christ alone and exalting Him, throw them to the ground where they belong.