What is Your Idol?

I was thinking about the topic of idols and started wondering what our idols are today. I found numerous articles listing our “top idols.” The number and content varied and it occurred to me that it would be impossible to list every potential idol. Such an article would be boring and likely offend everyone when they came to their pet idol, or if their hot-button idol was not mentioned.

The First Two Commandments. Let’s start at the beginning (my mind just went to the Do-Re-Mi song from the Sound of Music), a very good place to start. There are two of the Ten Commandments that are particularly relative to this discussion. Since these are the first two commandments, they are obviously the most important. In Exodus 20:3-6 we read (NET) “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below. You shall not bow down to them or serve them,for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me, and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” The widely-circulated “Hillbilly Ten Commandments” expresses these more succinctly. One, “Just one God.” Two, “Put nothin before God.” Plain, simple, and understandable.

The first commandment is short and sweet. “No other gods.” The second commandment details the concept of a “carved” or graven image. But God didn’t stop there. He detailed the consequences of not following this commandment. God is expressing how much he hates idolatry. If we don’t deal with idolatry in our generation, we will pass it down to our children and to their children. He is a jealous God and will not tolerate other gods. Although it is not explicitly stated, God obviously knows His creation. He knows that if one generation does not worship Him, neither will future generations.

One other passage from the New Testament is also relevant here. As a part of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:33) Jesus told His listeners “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you.” God will take care of us under the condition that we seek Him first. I see this passage as an affirmation of these two commandments.

The Golden Calf. It can be very easy for us to read about idols in the Bible and come away feeling good about ourselves. Probably the most memorable example of idolatry in the Bible is the story of the golden calf. To recap, Moses was on the mountain with God, ironically receiving the Ten Commandments. But the people became restless since he was taking so long. They went to Aaron, petitioning him to “Make us an image of a god who will lead us and protect us. Moses brought us out of Egypt, but nobody knows what has happened to him.” (Deuteronomy 9:1 CEV). Were they concerned about Moses? Apparently not, they didn’t even send out a search party. Were they fickle? Looks like it. “God may have brought us out of Egypt, but what has he done for us lately?” They wanted a God they could see, touch, feel, and control. Aaron collected gold from the people and (by his account to Moses) he threw the gold into a fire and out came the golden calf.

God’s reaction to this showed how seriously God takes idolatry. He first told Moses that He was angry enough to destroy them and start over with Moses’ descendants becoming a great nation. It is related that Moses appealed to God on their behalf for mercy, which God granted. But there were consequences. Moses gathered the men of Levi and sent them through the camp, killing about 3,000 men. Moses went back up the mountain and begged forgiveness for the people. God wiped out the names of those who sinned and pledged punishment on them. Punishment in the form of a terrible disease.

What is an Idol? We don’t have a golden calf, but we do have other idols. Today, we think we are more sophisticated but only the form of our idols has changed. An idol is anything that is more important to us than God. Think about that – An idol is anything that is more important to us than God. Among other things, that means that good things can become idols if we allow them to be. To me, this is somewhat of a scary realization. If I place my wife and children before God, they have become idols. If I work hard to provide for myself and my family, work and money can become idols. If I take my dream vacation because “I deserve it,” that can be an idol. If I swear undying allegiance to my favorite sports team, it has become an idol. If I declare my church or pastor to be perfect, that makes them idols. There is nothing wrong with these things. The problem is in our focus. Are any of these more important than our relationship to God?

I have somewhat of an odd quirk in that I try to refrain from saying I love something that is inanimate. I can (and should) love my family, my friends, or my pets. But to say I love a good steak, I love my new car, I love to take cruises, is elevating these toward idolatry. There can be nothing wrong having or doing these things but they can’t love us back. They take from us. And that is where idolatry rears its ugly head.

Idols take, God gives. God is called a jealous God many times in the Bible. Normally we think of jealousy as a negative trait. The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as “a feeling of unhappiness and anger because someone has something or someone that you want.” As a human emotion, it is a negative trait. In our society we often call it “keeping up with the Joneses.” When applied to God, the word takes on a different connotation. God is omniscient – He knows everything. An example would be a child interacting with a parent. The parent tells the child to stay in the yard. As children will often do, the child strays out of the yard and is almost hit by a passing car. The parent was not being mean, restricting the child to the yard. The parent knew the danger and what was best for the child.

God’s omniscience means He knows what is best for us and that we find our greatest fulfillment in worshiping and following Him. Anything else will be settling for less than the best. Idols cannot give back. They may passively receive our love and adoration but have no power to save. Idols are an addiction. God is relational, loving, and giving – everything an idol is not. Hebrews 4:15-16 (CEV) tells us “Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin! So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved grace, and we will find help.”

Idols of Today. Although I said that this was not to be a list of idols, I think it appropriate to mention some broad categories of idolatry to help us focus on where we stand.

First is our identity. We may have abandoned who we are in Christ and placed our identity in other things. We meet someone and the first thing we usually tell them is our job or profession. Or our favorite sports team, activity, or whatever. Our identity, though, is in Christ. Meet someone new? Why not begin the conversation with our relationship to God?

Second, I would list material things. Money is not bad, but used wrongly, it can cause much damage. How we use things determines if it is an idol.

A third idol can be our physical appearance. Don’t get me wrong. It is important to be healthy and to keep our bodies in good physical condition. I’ve spent the last 50 years focusing on physical fitness. But when we obsess about our appearance it can become idolatrous.

Fourth is entertainment. We crave to be entertained. Growing up, we didn’t have a television when I was young. Once we got a TV, we were able to view two stations clearly and a third was kind of fuzzy. Today we have hundreds of channels. We take vacations, we go to concerts, we watch our sports teams. We pay thousands of dollars to see that one great game or concert. Just this week I saw that tickets for a Taylor Swift concert were going for over $10.000.

Fifth is our sexual identity. Sex is good and is a gift from God, but we often misuse it. The sexual aspect of our lives can become sacred to us and an idol.

There are hundreds of products that promise us a life of comfort, our  sixth idol. The latest and greatest promise to make our lives better and simpler. Sometimes these don’t deliver on the promises and complicate our lives. Jesus did not say “Follow me and I will give you a life of comfort.” Instead He told his disciples “While you are in the world, you will have to suffer. But cheer up! I have defeated the world.” (John 16:33 CEV). We live a life of calling, not of comfort.

If you look at these six idols, you may note something. All of these take from us. God gives to us. Idolatry is greed. When we turn to idols we are turning away from God. When we turn to God, we are turning away from idols. In Acts 3:19 Paul writes “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” In today’s language, “repent” carries the connotation of “making a 180,” changing our direction so we are headed back to God.

Note that in returning to God three things happen. First, our sins are wiped away as if they never happened. God forgets our sins when they are forgiven. Jeremiah 31:34 “for I will forgive their wrongdoing, and their sin I will no longer remember.” I can’t explain how that happens but I rejoice that it does. Second, this cleansing of sins ushers in a time of refreshing. Third, this refreshing comes from us being in God’s presence.

Shedding the idols from our lives is a never-ending task. We must constantly focus on God and His kingdom. In Philippians 3:13-14 Paul wrote “I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” We press on through the spiritual disciplines of prayer, worship, and Bible study. If we don’t practice these disciplines, we will fail. They give us the tools to achieve the ultimate prize – God’s call to us.

It sounds like a monumental task. Once we defeat one idol, another may rear its ugly head. As long as we remain on earth, we will be fighting this battle. But we don’t fight it alone. “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:21-21. God’s power working within us is the key to our success.

All scripture is NASB, unless otherwise stated.

Photo credits to enlightened images, Joenoitas, Davidyonathan, Arnie Grage, and mquadastalib