Genesis 1:26-27 indicates that God created humans to be His image bearers. Unfortunately, sin ruined humanity’s ability to fully bear the image of God. Sin caused true worship to become distorted. In other words, man began to worship creation more than the Creator (Rom. 1:21-25). Not only did humanity began to worship creation, they began to create their own gods. This is why the Lord commanded Israel not to worship any other gods, whether it was creation or created idols: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me” (Exodus 20:3-5).
The psalmist condemns idols and those who make and worship them: “Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: Eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: Noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: Feet have they, but they walk not: Neither speak they through their throat” (Psalm 115:4–7). Idols do not have the ability to speak, see, hear, smell, handle, or move. They are nothing more than dumb idols.
Notice the consequence of making and worshiping idols: “They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them” (Ps. 115:8). Those who make idols become just like them. To say it another way, they become what they worship. Bible scholar GK Beale says, “What people revere, they resemble, either for ruin or restoration.”
If we revere the world, then we will become like the world. If we revere celebrities, we will reflect the worldly lifestyles they exhibit. Beloved, we were not made to resemble the world; we were made to reflect the image and glory of God.