idol thoughts

“Our contemporary society is not fundamentally different from these ancient ones.  Each culture is dominated by it own set of idols.  Each has its “priesthoods,” it totem and rituals.  Each one has it shrines whether office towers, spas, and gyms, studios, or stadiums-where sacrifices must be made in order to procure the blessings of the good life and ward off disaster.  What are the gods of beauty, power, money, and achievement but these same things that have assumed mythic proportions in our individual lives and in our society?  We may not physically kneel before the statue of Aphrodite, but many young women today are drive into depression and eating disorders by an obsessive concern over their body image.  We may not actually burn incense to Artemis, but when money and career are raised to cosmic proportions, we perform a kind of child sacrifice, neglecting family and community to achieve a higher place in business and gain more wealth and prestige.”  Timothy Keller Counterfeit Gods

It is often very difficult to identify idols in our own lives.  One of the ways I examine my own heart in this area is by looking at my first response difficult situations. 

Where do I go in times of trial?  Where do I seek comfort?  Who do I talk with?  Where do I go first?

For example if my car broke down today what would be my first response?

Do I ask the Lord for guidance? 

Do I ask for a miracle? 

Do I yell at God? 

Do I try to fix it on my own? 

Call a friend? 

Call a mechanic?

If I am honest my first response is often very similar to someone who does not believe in God at all.  I try to fix it on my own. 

It is only when I am truly stuck.  When I cannot solve the problem, when I don’t know the right people.  When I do not have the resources.  It is then and only then that I set aside the idols of strength, knowledge, and self to ask God for help.

This is not to say that rational thought or problem solving is bad.  No, God has given us this.  But if we consistently turn to self, others, or things in our times of need.  Even simple needs it reveals something about where we find our strength.  It reveals something about what or who we worship.

Where do you go in difficult seasons of life?  Where do you seek comfort? In others, self, food, success?  What are the idols in your life?