Just do it. Deuteronomy 12

"When God, your God, cuts off the nations whose land you are invading, shoves them out of your way so that you displace them and settle in their land, be careful that you don’t get curious about them after they’ve been destroyed before you. Don’t get fascinated with their gods, thinking, “I wonder what it was like for them, worshiping their gods. I’d like to try that myself.” Don’t do this to God, your God." vv 29 - 31

How much God loves us. Like a parent, he warns his children about the stuff which will do them harm.  Verse 31 says "They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods." and I think of abortion. Of the millions of children who have been sacrificed to the gods of inconvenience and selfishness and What's Best For Me.

Of course, I haven't been in the position of 'having' to choose. I haven't had to exercise the extreme courage it must take  especially decades ago - to face up to an unplanned pregnancy and keep a child. I haven't had to  unexpectedly have my life turned upside down, face the loss of personal dreams, endure the upset from others about my actions.

But this is indeed a warning, of the dreadful way of thinking we fall into when we turn away from god and start to set our minds and hearts on other ways of living.

" Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.  Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator..." Colossians 3:2 - 9

Just do it. And, as we put God above all else, seeking to obey his commands, engage with others.

Peter Jobes reflects in his blog sixtystadia : "As Christians it is part of our mandate to engage the culture of our day; we must neither avoid it nor embrace it but engage and challenge and shape it. The idols of our time should distress us and provoke us to action.

Part of this is recognising the true value of what we have, and seeing for ourselves that no idol can ever give the fulfilment and purpose that comes from Christ. An idol will consume all of the devotion or dependence you give it and always demand more, never meeting your needs but creating more instead.

We need to open our eyes to the idols in the culture around us and see them for what they are, because only then can we really offer answers to people hurt and broken by the pursuit of them."