Idolatry Exodus 20:3. “You shall have no other gods before Me.” How would you define idolatry? Most people I pose that question to in counseling correctly respond that idolatry is when we make something more important to us than God is. So are you and I idolaters? I suspect that most of us would acknowledge that we are sometimes idolaters but don’t consider ourselves to be strongly idolatrous. But here’s a follow-up question for us to consider. How can we tell if something is an idol to us? Most people I ask that question of respond by saying something like if we spend too much time, money, or attention on something, it may be an idol. That is certainly a true answer but I believe there is an even more fundamental way to tell if something is an idol to us. Any time we are willing to sin to get something we desire, or sin if we do not get something we desire, that something is an idol, at least at that moment. Here’s another question to ponder. Are most of the things that most of us want, most of the time, inherently sinful? I believe the answer is “No”. It is not inherently wrong to desire to be healthy, to have a good job, to be married, to have respectful children, to have a faithful spouse, etc, etc. But, it is certainly possible for any of those things to become idols to us if we MUST have them, to the extent that we will sin to get them or sin if we cannot get them. A few years ago when I heard that definition of idolatry, I began to realize that I was much more of an idolater than I had thought I was! Any time we get sinfully angry, have a pity party, get worried, let fear keep us from obeying God, get bitter, retaliate, execute vengeance, etc. etc., we reveal our idolatrous heart. Martin Luther once said that the human heart is an idol factory. You and I are regularly prone to worshipping many things other than God, because every time we willfully sin, we are committing idolatry. Reality is that we are BIG idolaters, not just little ones. So what should that truth motivate us to do? It should humble us and cause us to mourn over our sin. It should cause us to repent sooner and more often, to keep shorter accounts with God and the people we sin against. It should make us properly desperate for the grace and power of God to confront our idolatry so that we can further mature in progressive sanctification. Calling sin sin is the first step in overcoming sin. As we let the Holy Spirit work in our hearts to convict us of our sin and repent of those sins, we will find that over time we will go out of bounds in those ways less often, less deeply, and for shorter periods of time. So where we may blow it and sin today, let’s discern the idolatry involved and attack sin at its roots. Blessings, Steve Wilkins, Biblical Counselor
Posted on: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 09:59:21 +0000
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