I’ve always felt like I had this commandment covered. This isn’t really a problem anymore—not in today’s modern culture, right?

Sure, back in biblical days it was an issue; people were making little statues that they worshiped as if they were living things. They even prayed to the moon and stars in the sky as if they were gods who could give them a good crop, save them from floods or heal their diseases.

This commandment seems like a no-brainer today; we know the stars are just floating balls of gas or something (I’m no scientist!). We know they’re not gods who deserve our praise. They can’t hear us, and they certainly can’t offer us salvation or teach us how to live. It would be silly to waste even a second on those twinkling little lights except to marvel at their beauty and their Creator—the one true God.

Yet I, along with many of my Brio sisses, have spent more than a few seconds worshiping another kind of star: the stars who appear on the movie screen or receive play time on our iPods. You know who I’m talking about—movie stars, pop stars and models. If we’re really honest with ourselves, many of us have spent more time watching and studying these kinds of stars than we‘ve spent with the Lord. This is all part of the evil one’s plan to distract us from what’s really important. If we’re busy worrying about what the stars are doing, we don’t have as much time to think about the things of the Lord.

Many girls buy worldly fashion magazines once in a while and pore over them, reading every word as though it contains great wisdom instead of fluff pieces about Britney’s lip gloss color and Paris’ latest scandal. We see all their movies and music videos and study the way they wear their hair and makeup so we can go home and copy it. We surf the Web to see the next handbag or skirt we need to run out and buy to look like our fashionista icons.

Idol Worship—Who Me?
All a magazine has to do is mention where the latest “it” girl bought her trendy top and sales skyrocket from girls trying to copy her style. Why do we do this? Could it be that we look at their seemingly happy lifestyles plastered in full color everywhere? They take expensive vacations and spend more on a handbag than we make in a year. Sounds like the good life, right? So we study the stars, too—Hollywood stars.

Surprised? “No,” you say, “we don’t worship stars like idols.” The Bible says that an idol is anything that we put before the Lord. Hmm . . . that puts a whole new perspective on our star worship, doesn’t it?

“But,” you protest, “we don’t put them before God.” Well, maybe we just need to ask ourselves a few questions and see.

• How much time do I spend watching TV and movies? (Do you plan your life around what time your favorite show comes on?)

• How much time do I spend listening to music? (Does that iPod go everywhere you go?)

• How much do I know about my favorite movie or music star? (Could you pass a pop quiz about her movie roles, her ex-boyfriends or her favorite drink at Starbucks?)

• How much time do you spend reading the Bible? (Do you spend time with God only when it’s convenient?)

• How much time do you spend in prayer? (Are you faithful to pray for your friends and family?)

For some of you, answering these questions honestly may come as a reality check. How often do you sit down to watch a movie? At least once a week? Two hours of your life—gone. When’s the last time you spent two hours with God? Ask yourself, Who’s getting my worship?

The thought of reading the Bible felt overwhelming to me when I was younger, so I kept putting it off. My mom encouraged me to start small—so I tried just spending 15 minutes reading my Bible a day. I learned that if I did this faithfully, I could read through the entire Bible in about a year! You can try it first thing in the morning so you start your day right or before you go to bed so your thoughts are on the Lord as you drift off to sleep.

Putting Ping-Pong Balls First
Your idol may not be a movie star, but there can be lots of different idols in our lives. Money, sports, a boyfriend and our looks can all become idols if we spend more time thinking about these things than thinking about God. One of my high school teachers once did a demonstration that put this all in perspective. He placed a glass on his desk and said that it represented our lives. Then he took out three Ping-Pong balls and said they represented the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Last, he reached for a cup of sand and said it represented everything else in our lives: school, family, friends, work, sports and hobbies.

First, he poured the sand into the glass; it took up almost the whole glass. He tried to fit the Ping-Pong balls into the glass, but they wouldn’t fit.

“See,” he said, “when you put other things in your life before God, God can’t fit.”

He removed the sand, and this time he put the Ping-Pong balls in the empty glass first. Next, he poured the sand in the glass, and it all fit! The sand easily filled the spaces around the Ping-Pong balls.

I’ve never forgotten this illustration. If we make room for God first, He’ll bless us, and we’ll begin to know His will. But if we put other things first, we won’t have time for God, and we’ll lose our way. He doesn’t want to be second in line for our time or our hearts.

I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not easy to give my time to the Lord; I’m naturally selfish and sometimes see spending time with God as a burden. I’ve often had to force myself to read the Word or pray, but I’ve never regretted it. We have a personal invitation to spend time with God—the One who made all the stars, the ones in the heavens and the ones who appear in the pages of magazines. Let’s remember to worship the Creator of both!