A Brick, a Box of Ones and Zeros, and Ourselves

Jared Leys

Here on my desk, next to my computer, I have a brick setting there for me to stare at.  The reason that it is there to stare at is not to bore me, but rather to help me consider a question that has come to my mind.  What if it were an idol?

            I found this brick one day, as it was lying on the ground, broken off on half of its sides.  It no longer serves an important purpose like helping to hold up a building or some other structure, but it is instead resting here in front of me.  So, suppose with me that this brick is an idol and that for some reason I worship it.  I am going about this false worship when suddenly I realize my sin and repent.  What shall I do with the brick then?  If I follow the example of Josiah King of Judah (2Ki. 23:14), who closely followed the law of Yahweh (Deut. 12:3), then I would be very right to take the brick and smash it to pieces.  If this brick were really an idol, I would be quite happy to do that, especially since it is already half broken and mostly useless.

            Let me now ask another, similar question.  What if the computer I am typing this article on turned out to be an idol for me?  Would I be as eager to smash it to pieces without question?  Now, I am sure you have heard and thought all about not letting things like computers or television or any number of things become too important to you, but for now think about this.  Would you be able to smash this thing that costs more money and is worth more, without question?  When I think about it for myself, my first instinct is that it would be much harder to smash the computer than to smash the brick.

            Our father Yahweh has promised death for those that keep any idols before him (Rev. 21: 8).  Therefore, as I claim to believe in his love and his promise of life, it should be simple for me to decide to destroy any idol that is in my way to him.  If there is anything at all that comes in the way of my ability to serve Yahweh, then I should be able to instantly decide to rid myself of it.  But it is not that easy, is it?  Nonetheless, we are all called to have that kind of self-control in our everyday lives.

            So when I look at this problem I realize that like so many other things, it is a matter of putting ourselves ahead of Yahweh.  From everything I have observed, I see that most of the time we ourselves are usually the idol that comes in the way of serving our heavenly father.  So perhaps from time to time we need to hand ourselves over to Yahweh to be smashed to pieces; pieces that he will be there to pick up for us and put back together if we are willing.  So what we need to do is nothing more than have the self-control to give up control of ourselves to the one who may give us life.

**Note: about three days after I finished writing this article, my computer promptly stopped working.  Thankfully, I managed to get it up and working again a few days later, praise Yahweh.  Now, what the lesson in that was, I am not entirely certain, but I do know that it taught me a little bit of patience and handing things over to our heavenly father to take care of.  At least, it allowed me to test for a few days what it would be like if I lost my computer, as I suggested in hypothesis.