Idolatry has become a fascinating study for me lately.
Growing up, I had a fairly restrictive view of what idols were; essentially, icons or totems or other objects people worshiped instead of God. Think golden calves and wooden poles. I guess you could say I took segments like Psalm 115 literally; if it was rendered in silver and gold, mute, deaf, blind, and unmoving, then it was an idol. If not, you were in the clear! This kept me wary of certain items purchased at shady flea markets…and not much else.
This ignorance about the truth of idolatry finally broke down for me in my late teens, when I realized I had some serious idolatry in my life about certain things I was obsessing over. I wasn’t “worshipping” them in the sense of building shrines to them, but I was definitely leaning into these things to deliver me from loneliness, anxiety, and sorrow.
I came face-to-face with the fact that idolatry is, at its core, the enshrining of a thing in your heart, lending it power and worship that belongs to God alone.
In many ways, idolatry has become more insidious as the understanding of what idolatry is continues to become blurrier. Nowadays we have our “American Idols” and we “idolize” our heroes. We see a celebrity or standout in our field of interest and gasp, “Oh my gosh, she’s my IDOL!”
What are we professing when we utter these seemingly-innocuous words? Well, according to the American Heritage dictionary, we might be saying, “This person is my image used as an object of worship. My false god. My one that is adored, often blindly or excessively.”
I don’t know about you, but none of that sounds like a good thing. Sure, maybe adoration can slide under the gate, but blindly or excessively? Is that not how we often come to excuse poor behavior—even in the church? Have you ever seen a Christian pastor confronted for indiscretion and yet people still followed him/her, excusing or downplaying their sin? Maybe they were idolizing their spiritual leader, giving them a place on the throne of their heart that truly belongs to God.
All of this to say, we have to be mindful of the idols in our lives. The celebrities, the shows, the common folks, the people in power. The icons and items, the shows and books and movies. Even our spouses, our children, our jobs, our hobbies. The truth is, anything can become an idol when it becomes our source for sustenance, rather than God being in that position.
Let’s be sure we’re giving honor to Yahweh—not to ourselves, not to people, not to the things of this world. Let’s not be counted among those who become like the idols we hold; instead, let’s discard all forms of idolatry in our lives and keep our focus and worship reserved for the God who loves and sustains us always!
