Superstitions aren't Christian

So with the the start of the New Year many people believe you can't clean or cook on New Years Day or that's what you will be doing the rest of the year. Or that if you eat black-eyed peas and greens you will have money and health for the New Year. But do these really happen and are we to even believe in superstitions?

How many people do you know that carry around a rabbits foot or get nervous when a black cat runs across their path? What about walking under ladders or breaking mirrors? What about unlucky 13 or the dreaded 666? Do any of these have power in our lives as Christians or are we focusing on the wrong thing?

Believe it or not superstitions are a tool of the devil. He tries to get us to allow other things in our lives to have power over us. We think they are all in fun, but what happens when we start truly believing these things? I am just as guilty as the next person to say good luck or to be a little nervous when a mirror breaks, but I have to remember where my strength and good fortune come from. It isn't from anything I do, but what Christ does for me and in my life.

Did you know that superstitions are a form of idolatry? Did I get your attention? It is. Idolatry is simply allowing anything other than the one true God to have control over you. And needless to say the Bible speaks extensively against idolatry. The Bible also speaks against giving an ear to people who speak of these superstitions. They are instruments of the devil to get your focus on something other than God.

I know your sitting there saying "I am not being used by the devil!" Have you stopped to think about the people you have influenced with that rabbits foot or because you wouldn't let them walk under a ladder. It's the same as if you shared a drink with them and they became alcoholics. It all ties together as becoming a stumbling block for someone else. Deuteronomy 13:1-4 talks about not following people who tell you one thing even if it comes true if it isn't of the word of God. We are to worship God with our whole hearts and minds and follow His law and teaching.

So should we really give 666 as much power as people do? Should we buy something else if the register rings up that number? The answer is simply no! That number has no power over us unless we give it power over us. We as Christians have no need of fearing that number or anything other number. If something good happens it isn't because of luck it is because of God's graciousness. If something bad happens it isn't because of bad luck or because we walked under a ladder or broke a mirror or because a cat walked across our path. It is simply because bad things happen because there is sin in this world or God is testing our faith to show us where our hearts really are.

Now let's be honest some things are just common sense. You don't walk under ladders because you never know when something might fall off the ladder and you don't break a mirror simply because you shouldn't break anything made of glass considering we all know what it is like to try to clean up broken glass!

The reason superstitions exist is simply because Satan wants our focus on something other than the one true living God. He wants us to give power to other things so that when good things happen we think of what good luck we have and not the great things God has done for us in this life. And when bad happens its because God wants to mend the broken pieces of our lives and not because we broke a mirror or walked under a ladder or heaven forbid a black cat should walk across our path.

So collards don't give you more money, nor black-eyed peas give more health. Ladders can't cause bad things to happen nor broken mirrors or black cats. 666 and 13 are completely harmless because these are powerless. They are inanimate objects. It can't have power over you or anything else!