The following is written by Billy Graham.

I know little about nuclear fission or uranium and other elements used in making nuclear explosives. But I believe in the atomic bomb, and so do you. But how can we believe that it exists, if we don’t understand it or have any scientific knowledge about the way it works?

The answer is obvious. Others understand nuclear fission even if we don’t. And others have been what happens when a nuclear reaction takes place even if we haven’t. We read what they say, and we accept it as the testimony of reliable people.

I spend much of my time perusing the pages of a certain book – the Bible. In it I discover that centuries ago God acted and spoke, and reliable witnesses recorded it all. God even guided them as they wrote, so now I read the very words of God himself.

I may not understand everything there is to know about God, but I know him and trust him because of what I read of him in the Bible. Most of all, I know he came down to earth in the person of his Son, and “Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

• Billy Graham

“Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them” (Psalm 115:8).

Who or what are the “them” referring to? Idols.

Those who make idols will be like them. Those who trust in idols will be like them.

So, then, what are idols like? Take a look at the preceding verses.

• Idols are made by human hands (v.4)
• Idols have mouths but cannot speak, have eyes but cannot see (v.5)
• Idols have ears but cannot hear, nose but cannot smell (v.6)
• Idols have hands but cannot feel, feet but cannot walk (v.7)

Gee. Idols can’t do anything. And that’s exactly the point. Idols are powerless because idols are dead. We know that idols are powerless because we are the ones who made them with our own hands. Idols are our own creations. Of course they can’t do anything.

Those who make idols will be like them. Those who trust in idols will be like them…Dead…Powerless.

So, then, why would anyone make idols? Because idols are easily controlled. After all, we made them. And because we made them, they are less demanding and exacting. Because we control idols, we can manage them.

But they are dead. They are powerless. They can do nothing.

So it is with anyone who makes them and who puts their trust in idols.

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

RUN IN SUCH A WAY AS TO GET THE PRIZE.

We always make time for what is important to us.

We always prioritize what is important to us.

We always go out of our way to do what is important to us.

So what is it that you make time for? What do you prioritize? What do you go out of your way for? It wouldn’t be that hard to determine what’s important to us. If we were to see what fills our calendar and how we actually spend our time, we would know.

The Apostle Paul reminds us – if you’re going to live this Christian life, if you’re going to live as if you were created for eternity, if you’re going to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ – run the race of life as if eternity matters, as if God matters.

Bottom line – if you’re serious about your discipleship you will make a way to invest in spiritual growth and maturity. When you are not, you will make excuses.