What Do You Idolize? – Chris Adams

One of my current reads is The Reason for God: Belief in the Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller.

Although not an easy read, this book is powerful to equip believers in this season of spiritual skepticism. It is also a phenomenal book to help us talk to those who do not believe in Jesus, or for them to read to make a decision about what they will do with Him.

Tim Keller quotes Soren Keirkegaard about the issue of sin: “Sin is: in despair not wanting to be oneself before God…Faith is: that the self in being itself and wanting to be itself is grounded transparently in God.” Then Tim says, “Sin is the despairing refusal to find your deepest identity in your relationship and service to God. Sin is seeking to become oneself, to get an identity, apart from him.“

The sin I want to talk about here is that of idolatry because I think it connects to this definition above…something other than the Lord has become our “god”.

I am also reading the beginning chapters of the Old Testament in my D-Group reading plan and recently read about the calf Aaron made from the Israelite’s jewelry while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the 10 commandments from God! The most incredible part is when Aaron says the calf just jumped out of the fire! (Exodus 32) How could the brother of Moses, from the priestly line of Levi, create and give the people an idol when they demanded it? What was He thinking? What are we thinking when we do the same thing?

As followers of Christ, I know we don’t carve idols out of gold, but have you ever made a person your idol? Perhaps your love and devotion was stronger for them than it was for Jesus. Maybe money is your “god”, or stability, or health, or your job, or self image, or power, or fame, or your wardrobe, or even your fears. Whatever we bow down to and slave for becomes our idol.

Commandment #1 is “Do not have other gods besides me.” (Exodus 20:3) God was serious about this issue and yet we don’t even recognize sometimes the idols we allow into our lives. As Tim Keller said, “sin is seeking to become oneself apart from God.”

Aaron failed while Moses was on Mt. Sinai. If he fell for idolatry, what makes me think I’m immune to it?

So, what do we do? Let’s ask the Lord to reveal anything we think more of than Him. Ask Him, what is something other than Him that is so important that you will take time for it rather than Him. Ask Him to show you what you value more than Him. Ask Him to not allow you to miss what He says to you about your idols. Then, obey Him and lay them down! I will too!

P.S. After I wrote this, I listened to this amazing Made for This With Jenni Allen podcast, A Deep Talk About Holiness with Jackie Hill Perry. Sooo good, and timely! And if you want to do a study on this subject, check out Kelly Minter’s Bible study No Other Gods. A great way to consider things in our lives we’ve put ahead of Him!