The second idol we will label "SELFISHNESS." When we put ourselves first and are self-willed and always want our own way, then we are putting the idol of "selfishness" to bed. This idol is like the white ant of Africa which is a secret destroyer. It feeds on wood.
A man built himself a house on a piece of land that he thought was a safe place, and after it was finished all the people said it was a thing of beauty. But suddenly one day it fell with a great crash. Now look over the wrecked timber, and you will discover that the inside of the timbers had been eaten clean away. This ant is no respecter of things. It eats books, furniture, trunks, chairs, dolls, and toys, or anything.
Selfishness is like this ant. It secretly eats away the heart of love, and we are dead to the appeal of the world for sympathy. No boy or girl can love himself or herself above all others without dying inside. Like the African ant, selfishness destroys from within, it kills the heart.
Bishop Butler, one of the most learned men, said, "Be more afraid of thyself than of the world." Be afraid of the idol of selfishness, it is yourself at your worst. Put it away, not to bed.
A poor little girl in the slums of London one cold snowy night said to her little brother who was shivering with the cold by her side, "Come closer to me, dear little brother, come under my shawl, it will stretch and cover us both." She never knew anything of the idol of selfishness, no one ever does who stretches the shawl for two. Put this idol in the old rag-bag and put it out of sight.
The third idol we will label "Hatred." We worship this idol when we say to another, "I hate you," and then add all sorts of evil words designed to hurt and kill, and so often we seem glad to believe all the evil said about our enemies, and so worship this idol with glad hearts. Often we get some foreign substance in our eye, and we cannot see except with a blurred vision. We do not see things as they really are. Thus "hate" often blurs our sight, and we cannot see straight. "Hate" is a foreign substance in the mind's eye and we cannot see people as they are.
John Hus the Reformer was bound to the stake to be burned to death because of his faith in Jesus. A poor old peasant woman came up with a piece of wood to add to the fire which was to burn the martyr to death, and when it was flung on the pile, she seemed to be happy and contented. John Hus said to her, "Have I ever harmed you or yours that you are so bitter against me?" "Never," she replied, "but you are a heretic, and wood is scarce, and it looks like a hard winter, but I am glad to do my part to rid the world of such an accursed heretic." John Hus reached out his hand and drew the fagot close to his side and said, "With my heart I forgive you," for John was a Christian. She was a heathen putting her idol of "hate" to bed. She was so blind with hate that she did not know a saint when she saw one.
Be like Jesus who loved all men. A brother of mine when he was converted said, "I feel like kissing everybody." He had put the idol of hate in the rag-bag and, like Jesus, loved everybody. Should you not go and do likewise?
If this lesson is given to small children secure a doll's bed, and have the idols all put to bed before the children assemble. Place this bed on the table or any place where it can be seen by all. Take them out of bed one by one, and give the lesson, and then say, "Shall I put them back to bed or in the rag-bag?"
After this tell them we are all to love God and not idols. Tell them the true God never goes to bed, and neither slumbers nor sleeps, but watches over us to see if there is not some good thing he can do for us the next day. His Son looks on and says, "Suffer the little ones to come unto me." Let's go.