Idol Worship

“I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols” Isaiah 42:8

​

Idols are anything we place before God. This can be anything and anyone. Idols can take over our personalities and identities. It can be a concept or lifestyle. It can be food.

​

We can have many idols, even at the same time. Idols are not always a negative thing, sometimes it’s a good thing.  If it consumes your time, your mind, your feelings, and your finances it may be an idol. Its about the position of your heart on the matter. It may not seem like something that is more important than God and this can be painful to think about. I encourage you to honestly reflect and look at yourself. Do I spend time doing this and push time with God to the side? Does this thing cause me to drift away from God? Does this thing hold a precious place in my heart that is the most important thing to me? If you don’t know if something is an idol for you, pray and ask God to reveal the truth to you and then be still.

​

Here are some common examples of idols in today's world.

• Identity. Social media following, work status or position, achievements, skills, our appearance, gender and sexual orientation, social class, religion, politics, family title (mom, dad, child, sibling, grandparent), ethnicity/culture. Identity means a lot of things to a lot of people, but how does God define it? We are many things and many things at once. I am a mom, a Christian, a daughter, an artist, an employee, a wife and more. Are any of those things more important than God to me? When we surrender our identity to our creator and allow Him to guide us into who he designed us to be, we walk in freedom.

• Money or the acquisition things. Money is not, in itself, a bad thing. It is a necessary tool and it can be an excellent resource to bless others. However,  if our pursuit of money or status becomes a primary focus and drive, we probably have made money an idol. Do you place your trust or security in money more than Gods provision?  Does money make you feel protected? Is your primary focus the new thing you want to buy that will make you or your family happy? Money is meant to be a blessing and we are not suggesting that you sell all your belongs and live on half your paycheck. This is about evaluating your heart to see what is most important and take a look at how you use and feel about your money. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Matthew 6:24

• Entertainment. This comes in so many forms and I think this can also be linked to distraction (or being distracted from reality or stress). This can be tv shows, video games, or vacations to name a few.  Entertainment can hold a beautiful and fun purpose that is a positive thing. If however, we become obsessed with the search and absorption of time and attention with being entertained then it becomes an idol more important than God.

• Phones. Smart phone addiction is a very real thing, backed by scientific studies to the point that some people feel like they can't function without their phones. Phones have such a benefit and useful purpose but can easily become more important than God without us even realizing it. The problem is not the phone, social media, games, apps, or any form of technology. It is the importance and value we place in our hearts and minds about these things and how that corelates to our relationship with God. When our lives revolve around how many likes we get, what our following looks like, or if we can’t sit in silence for five minutes without refreshing our newsfeed, we might have an idol. Anything that takes the place of God in our life, anything that becomes more important than him is an idol.

• Comfort. Its no surprise or secret that we live in stressful and challenging times. To my knowledge and experience most people would agree with this. This also means that remedies, products, books, and services that provide comfort saturate our cultures. Comfort and peace is a natural and valuable thing. Its also something that Jesus promises to provide to us. Jesus told his disciples, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." John 14:27. Let's be real though, this can be hard to connect with sometimes and honestly, the comfort of food, relationships or other things can just not be as appealing or as immediate as what Jesus promises. Comfort is a good thing but it is not our life goal. Jesus tells us we will face struggles and when comfort is an idol, we may have difficulty walking into circumstances He calls us to if we perceive it as difficult or a risk.

• Family. What? How can family be an idol? They are blessings from God! Yes, they absolutely are. Are they more important to us than God? Have you surrendered them to God, as His children, over them being members of your family? I admit, I struggled with this. I had made serving my family and their happiness my most important concern. I definitely relied on my understanding and plans I made for our family and my role in our family over seeking God first. Family is one of the most important earthly blessings we will experience. How do we make God the center of our families?

 

Please note, that all of the things on this list are not bad things. The concern becomes when something becomes more important than God. This is about the importance that these things hold in our heart in relation to God as our priority. Some idols may be wonderful things, blessings from God even, that will remain in your life and all you have to do is figure out how to put God first in this situation. God wants you to have a deep and personal relationship with Him. He loves us the way a perfect father loves his precious child because that’s exactly what we are to Him.  He wants this type of relationship with us because He created us and knows what is best for us. When we remain close to Him we are open to aligning with the beautiful, abundant, and meaningful will and purpose He has for us.

​

When we go before God or when we pursue spending time with Him, are we giving Him the best of us? Are we giving Him our undivided attention? Are we opening our hearts and minds to hear from Him? You can trust that God is giving you the best of Him. He loves us that much!