Idolatry 101

Posted by on Sep 26, 2011 | 2 comments

“Our human minds are a perpetual factory of idols.”

                                   - John Calvin

In WG’s yesterday we hit one of THE megathemes of Scripture: idolatry.  Here’s what most of us think about when we hear the word “idol”…

Typically, we think of statues that are worshiped as gods or representatives of gods.  In the Bible, however, idolatry is much more than that.  In the Bible, idolatry is…

  • Any God-substitute
  • Treating anything in your life as if it were God
  • Putting anything in the place of God
To give it a comprehensive definition, Idolatry is…

Looking to something created for something that only the Creator can give.

So we have idols in our lives when we…

  • Build our happiness on something other than God (children, hobbies, success, etc)
  • Run to something other than God to “save” us in times of emotional trouble (food, alcohol, pornography, TV)
  • Look to something other than God for our sense of self-worth (vocational performance, the praise/acceptance of people around us, etc)
  • Trust in something other than God for our basic sense of security or safety (our savings account, our spouse, etc)
  • Shape our identities around anything other than our relationship with God (we try to be “the music guy” or “the organized girl” or “the athlete” or “the smart person” or “the techie”)
These things are “idols of the heart”, are just as serious and sinful as a golden statue in your living room, and they begin to function like God in your life by mastering you.  Except rather than being a good and gracious master like Jesus, they destroy and punish and never forgive.  Identifying and turning from the idols of our hearts is central to the Christian life.  Borrowed from The Resurgence, here are 11 ways to find your idols…
  1.  What do I worry about most?
  2.  What, if I failed or lost it, would cause me to feel that I did not even want to live?
  3.  What do I use to comfort myself when things go bad or get difficult?
  4.  What do I do to cope? What are my release valves? What do I do to feel better?
  5.  What preoccupies me? What do I daydream about?
  6.  What makes me feel the most self-worth? Of what am I the proudest? For what do I want to be known?
  7.  What do I lead with in conversations?
  8.  Early on what do I want to make sure that people know about me?
  9.  What prayer, unanswered, would make me seriously think about turning away from God?
  10.  What do I really want and expect out of life? What would really make me happy?
  11.  What is my hope for the future?

 

2 Comments

  1. Brad Reynolds | September 26, 2011 at 10:04 am

    Incredible message yesterday! Thank you.