Idols

I watched a documentary a couple of years ago regarding the history of the Jewish nation, or something to that effect.  Obviously I don't remember much about it! ;)  But there was one thing that REALLY stood out to me.  As the archaeologists were digging up and studying this area, they came to the conclusion that the ancient Jewish nation were NOT monotheistic.  My first thought was, "WHAT?!? Of COURSE they were!"  But as the documentary continued, they pointed out that they had found statues and shrines to many of the Canaanite gods in MOST of the Jewish houses.  At that point, I realized that their findings are consistent with the Biblical record of the idolatry practiced by Israel for much of their history.

At that point, I began to wonder-- If archaeologists dug up my house in a couple thousand years, would they say the same of me?  You will not find statues of "gods" in my house, but I have no lack of idols.  It was explained to me at one point that the throne of my heart (heart being the control center for my life) was created for God, but any time I put anything else or anyone else on that throne, I am committing idolatry.  So then I wondered if someone coming into my house would know, by the things I have, that I'm a believer in Jesus Christ.  I thought maybe not.  But I'd like to believe that if you lived with me for a week, you could tell...

Calvin is a little wordy, but I really enjoyed what he had to say about the first two commandments.  I'm only quoting a small portion.

The purport of [the First] commandment is, that the Lord will have himself alone to be exalted in his people, and claims the entire possession of them as his own. That this may be so, he orders us to abstain from ungodliness and superstition of every kind, by which the glory of his divinity is diminished or obscured; and, for the same reason, he requires us to worship and adore him with truly pious zeal. The simple terms used obviously amount to this. For seeing we cannot have God without embracing everything which belongs to him, the prohibition against having strange gods means, that nothing which belongs to him is to be transferred to any other. The duties which we owe to God are innumerable, but the seem to admit of being not improperly reduced to four heads: adoration, with its accessory spiritual submission of conscience, trust, invocation, thanksgiving... As the Lord does not allow these to be derived from any other quarter, so he demands that they shall be referred entirely to himself. It is not enough to refrain from other gods. We must, at the same time, devote ourselves wholly to him, not acting like certain impious despisers, who regard it as the shortest method, to hold all religious observance in derision. But here precedence must be given to true religion which will direct our minds to the living God. When duly imbued with the knowledge of him, the whole aim of our lives will be to revere, fear, and worship his majesty, to enjoy a share in his blessings, to have recourse to him in every difficulty, to acknowledge, laud, and celebrate the magnificence of his works, to make him, as it were, the sole aim of all our actions.
~John Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion (Book 2 c.8, 16)

And God spoke all these words, saying, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. "You shall have no other gods before me. "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Exodus 20:1-4
 
"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.
Matthew 22:36-38