Beware the Influence of People

“So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”” Exodus 32:24

I was always amazed by how quickly Aaron complied with the people of Israel in building the golden calf. The people of Israel at that time were quick to forget God's wonders and allowed the pressures of the moment to often times change their behavior and make them stray, but not Aaron. Aaron was standing right next to Moses when God did the wonders in front of Pharaoh, he was walking beside Moses through the Red Sea, holding up Moses' arms when fighting the Amalekites. It is shocking that after all he went through he would abandon it at the behest of the people without any sign of hesitation or remorse. When questioned by Moses about it, Aaron tried washing his hands of the act and made it sound as though the creation of the idol was out of his control. Although it seems easy to quickly write Aaron off as a failure, let us not miss the valuable lesson. How many times have we as Christians heard clearly the commandments of God, experienced his amazing power in our lives, and then bowed to the whims of the people around us and acted contrary to God's words. This is especially significant for those of us in Christian leadership. How many of us will read clearly to love and care for the poor among us, to bring offerings of broken spirits, to speak with truth the word of God, and then allow the whims of our congregation to deter us from where God is clearly leading us. 'Let us use the money for a bigger building, a building more beautiful than all the other churches around us.''Try not to speak so much of hell and judgment, we don't want to offend or deter our members from coming.''Hire the best musicians for the worship service, their hearts don't matter.' We are all at some point in time, guilty of the same betrayal that Aaron was. God has called us to live radical and holy lives, to have churches concerned with the kingdom of God and not of man, to be joyfully righteous, to love our enemies, and to do all things for the glory of HIS name. 

Lord Jesus, let us repent of the golden calves we are all complicit in building and return to the true worship of the living God!