When anything in life is an absolute requirement for your happiness and self-worth, it is essentially an ‘idol,’ something you are actually worshiping. ~ Timothy Keller
When we value anything more than we value God, we have made that “thing” our god.
This is called idolatry.
Idolatry is insidious, subtly commanding all of our attention. Usually we are unaware of it’s foothold in our life. Here is a good way to figure out if you have an idol in your life; ask yourself what defines your joy?
What defines your joy?
The most common type of idolatry is the adoration of other people. Relationships become unhealthy when we put our self worth and joy in others. What I mean by this is, if you allow someone to rob you of your joy by how they are treating you, you are practicing idolatry.
Sometimes we put others, including famous people, up on a pedestal.
God says that He is a jealous god and that He will not share our affection with anyone or anything else.
He tells us, “do no worship any other gods besides me. Do not make idols of any kind, whether in the shape of birds or animals or fish. You must never worship or bow down to them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not share your affection with any other god…” (Exodus 20:3-5).
God wants all of us- not 99% of us, but 100% of us.
For most of my life I put my joy in man, allowing my relationships to become “gods” in my life. Growing up, my friends were my gods. Later in life my mother was my god. When I got married, my husband became my god.
It wasn’t until I met the one and only true God, Jesus Christ, that I learned to find lasting joy. Before I knew Him personally I was pretty much a miserable person, always looking for happiness in others. The Bible warns us about this too (Jeremiah 17:5, Proverbs 29:25).
We can never enjoy the abundant life Christ died for us to live, if we are always looking for our happiness and self worth to come from others (Galations 1:10).
Another type of false god is when we value a talent as the most important thing in life. This is very common with sports. People can allow sports to define and rob them of their joy.
For many years we enjoyed supporting our son play football, first in high school and then in college. It was a lot of fun, but quite honestly, it was always a challenge to keep football in perspective. If his team was winning we were so happy, but when they would lose, we struggled with keeping our joy.
Often money and success can become idols too. We tend to believe that money buys happiness.
I grew up believing that money would bring me joy, security, and peace. Again, it wasn’t until I had a personal relationship with Jesus and He showed me what being rich really means did I realize money had been an idol in my life.
Today a common idol is modern technology. Many are becoming more and more consumed with self through social medias such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, to name a few. We spend more time on our smart phones than we do in the Word of God.
Any false god, or idol, in your life is destructive. Idols will always rob you of the peace and joy that God has for you (Tweet this).
Idolatry replaces our relationship with God.
God wants and deserves to be your first love. He’s the whole reason you even exist. Be sure to treasure Him above everything else in your life.
True lasting peace and joy come from making Jesus number one in your life. All other desires and goals that are put before Him will always leave you empty.
Like James 4:4 says, “You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.”
Once we really understand and get a hold of how much God loves us are we can be set free from the bondage of idolatry.
Honor your true love Jesus by making Him the King of your heart.
May Jesus be allowed to sit on His rightful place, on the throne of your heart.
Please leave me a comment below on any idols you may struggle with in your life.
“This is what the Lord says: “What did your ancestors find wrong with me that led them to stray so far from me? They worshiped worthless idols, only to become worthless themselves.” ~ Jeremiah 2:5
photo 1 credit: Gettyimages.com
photo 2 credit: Photography by Pinch Luther
Wise words as usual my friend! Keep sharing His love and His truth! Continued blessings on your blog, and all that you pen for Him! Love you girl!
Dear Sherry,
Thanks for your continuous support for my writings. Your words bless me so much. I love you too sis~
great word! straightforward, honest, yet very personal! I’m going to think on these words today-thank you 🙂
Dear Abby,
Thank you so much for your encouraging words to me. I appreciate your feed back. 🙂
Thank you for including the quote from Tim Keller….helpful to understand from different people what idol worshipping is. Tweeney, as always your posts come at the right time : )
An idol I struggle with is people. Actually I think co-dependency also goes along with this…at least it does for me. I’ve placed different friends or materialism upon the throne and a part of myself is sickened and disgusted to write that. It’s hard (maybe it’s being prideful) to write or call out & look at our sin. Why do we continue to go back to something that’s destructive to the heart and relationship with Jesus?
Dear Elizabeth,
You speak from your heart again. I LOVE IT!!! You are such a blessing to me! You are not alone in struggling with idolizing people. Most of us do. Yes, that is what codependency is. (I attached my link to codependency if you click on the word “people” that’s highlighted in pink.) And you are right, it’s very hard to admit our sin, but it’s also very healing. God always wants us to come to Him and confess our sins to Him. He is so full of grace. I think it’s our sinful nature that we are born with that causes us to keep going back to destructive behavior, and we absolutely cannot do it alone. We have to keep asking Jesus to help us. Also remember Elizabeth, it’s progress, not perfection. I’m sure you have made a lot of progress. Blessings to you my dear 🙂
Thank you for the encouraging words. Beth Moore said, i think, that an idol is anything you obsess over. Hope to see you soon!
Hi Cindy,
Thanks for your feedback.I completely agree with Beth Moore- an idol is anything you obsess over. Idols are just so deceptive and we don’t always realize how they are taking over our relationship with God.
Hope to see you soon too! 🙂