It Must Be The Religious Mind

Exodus 32:1-4, 24
1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.

Naivety is the hallmark of an unprepared mind that doesn’t patiently examine its choices but rather believes one can toss gold into a fire and out comes an idol of beaten work. As Disciples, we can’t afford this lack of discipline as it pays in dividends of sinful behavior we may be willing to chalk up to a hand full of watch parts tossed into the air and assembled upon the ground into a watch on our behalf.

It must be the religious mind, fickle enough and given to change, that empowered Aaron to yield before the congregation and help them to fashion a new god. Particularly interesting is he’s God’s choice for high priest confirmed by the budding staff. He turned the heart of the people toward idolatry and behaved as if God was only an acquaintance barely met.

Verse five is a key indication that Israel is so soon moving on from the LORD and unto other gods; the feast Aaron announced a veritable mockery of God which may be why God said they have turned quickly out of the way and wanted Moses to step aside that His wrath may wax hot, consume them, and make of Moses a great nation.

I ponder this considering how great a knowledge God has and if He was speaking of His great wrath, a product of His anger, so that Moses may examine himself who would exhibit anger waxed hot in verse nineteen.

Are we turning so quickly out of the way when we choose behaviors unbecoming a saint? Are we remaining with God when we lightly esteem something we’ve done and have not examined ourselves in light of biblical scripture? How quickly have we arrived at compromise when God has called us not to uncleanness but unto holiness.

Let’s use grace for obedience to the faith and dure with longevity in the service of God. Are we set on mischief or struggling with some aspect of ourselves? Let’s be certain we keep up our daily biblical devotion and the practice of spiritual disciplines.