Rule Number 1

“I’m telling.” These are the words of a child who sees an offense and feels powerless to stop it. I can picture two scruffy little boys in a back lot playing kickball and having this discussion. And the reply that would often come from the offender was, “Who you gonna tell?” To which the first child thinks and comes up with the biggest most powerful person they know. “I’m telling the President…….of the United States!”

I think we Americans still have that opinion buried somewhere in our minds. Like the child above, deep down we think that the government can fix all the wrongs and make them right. We have always confused the President with our God. And, best as I can tell, this is idolizing or breaking rule number 1 of our big ten. 

How can you tell this is idol worship? We place all our hope in election results. Rent-free, we post our idol’s sign in our yard in hope to convert our neighbors to our way of thinking. We tolerate defamation of the character of the other candidate and we often take part in this act even to the extent of ghosting friends who don’t agree with our point of view. We cling to every bit of news on election night hoping our candidate has won control and our stomach gets in knots over the possibility of loss of our savior. Government has become our god. This is idolatry at its finest. 

So while we are slapping signs of our ten rules on every surface, maybe we should take another gander at rule #1.