1 John 5:21

Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

(v21, NIV)

This is the very last verse of 1 John. It seems somewhat weird to end off with this. John concludes with these three certainties. But at the very end of it all comes a warning. It may make sense when looking at 1 John as a whole.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

(v13, NIV)

Why is John writing this? Looking back to verse 13, we may recall that he is writing this so that his readers may know that they have eternal life. You may also recall that an assumption about his readers is being made. His readers are those who believe in the name of the son of God. It's not simply something to be written to anybody so that anybody who reads this would know that they have eternal life. Instead, he wishes for those who have eternal life to be assured of it.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

(1 John 2:1, NIV)

There is another reason that John gives for his writing of 1 John. Back in chapter 2, he addresses them as "my dear children" and writes to them that they will not sin. Sin is so dirty and disgusting and it separates us from God. The goal here is to keep them from sinning through 1 john. This reason is in addition to the reason found in chapter 5; to assure believers of Jesus Christ of eternal life.

"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

(Exodus 20:4-6, NIV)

We are to keep ourselves from idols. So what is an idol? Apparently, it is an image used as an object of worship or it is a false god. Well, we worship the one true God. How dare we have anything other than him? Anything else would be a false god; this includes images used as objects of worship. It is very clear from the bible that this is a no-no. We are commanded by God not to make an idol for ourselves.

To have any part with idols is wrong in so many ways. First of all, we are breaking his commandment in the Old Testament. Do we not love him? If we do, we will keep his commandments. Will we continue in disobedience to him? If so, we are not truly his. Those who are his continue in righteousness. Those who are his put him first and acknowledge him as the most high. If he is the most high and the truth, why would we choose anything other than him? To put an idol up in front of our eyes between us and God would be to say we do not love God and worship him. We are to walk in the light as he is in the light, but to worship an idol would be to walk in the darkness. Do not do that and do not even get close to that. The warning here is very clear; keep yourselves from idols.