Do You Unknowingly Have Idols in Your Life?

“Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.” (Jonah 2:8)

I recently took a Master Gardening course, as a result, I started planting things – flowers, tomatoes, even an apple tree! The apple tree was a grafting – the root of one type of apple tree, and the graft of another. When I brought it home from class it was just one straight stick, but now there are all kinds of leaves growing out of it – at least the root part. I didn’t think to take pictures of it, because you see, I almost forgot that it was just a stick with a small root ball at the bottom when I planted it in the soil. Hopefully, years from now, that baby apple tree will not look anything like it did the day I brought it home.

What is an Idol?

I believe the way we live our lives can be like this apple tree for good – or bad. We might have had all good intentions of growing in a habit or routine; or even a new hobby. But before we know it, we have lost our balance, and our life can be consumed by it, not becoming anything like we initially envisioned when we first committed our attention to it. You might even say we have become addicted to it. As a result of what I learned in that gardening course, I can see myself moving in the wrong direction with it if I’m not careful – my plants and flower radar seems to perk up anytime I now drive by a garden center! Whoa – I need to be conscious that I don’t overdo it with this new hobby!

A new relationship could be another example – maybe you’ve fallen in love; or just had your first baby or became a grandparent for the first time. Your life is bound to change. And any one of these is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact it’s a good thing, right? How about a new diet? You have finally found the one that works – you are losing weight and keeping it off. In fact, you’ve become obsessed with what you eat or don’t eat. Without even realizing it, it has taken priority over our life. But what’s worse? It has become an idol for you.

Here is one definition of idol: an object of extreme devotion.

Let’s take one more look at the vision the Lord showed me about the health of America and see if there might be idolatry in here somewhere: “I see a dependence on things other than Me, like drugs and medications. I see fear, I see gluttony,… I see a lack of trust in Me to take care of them—not after the fact but instead of. For example, they will eat foods made by man because they are fast, easy, and cheap, rather than eating foods I made for them like fruits, vegetables, grains,… they do not slow down long enough to minister to their Temples, they don’t slow down to spend time with Me. They are depending on so many other things rather than Me. Food is their god.”

What the Bible Says About Idols

The very first commandment of God’s 10 Commandments is: “You shall have no other god’s before Me.” (Exodus 20:3)
While most of us might not be bowing down to a literal statue of some other god, there are many other ways we can dedicate our time and extreme devotion to.

But first, let’s take a look at some other ways the Bible addresses idolatry. I am going to borrow from a blog post written in biblestudytools.com some of these references and examples:

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” (Exodus 20:4)

“The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths.” (Psalm 135:15-17)

“What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols!” Habakkuk 2:18

“You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 26:1

“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

“Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.” (Jonah 2:8)

Examples of Idols in Our Lives

Let’s take a summary look at 10 specific things that can quickly sneak into our lives and become idols that the blog post addressed (for more in-depth description take a look at the blog):

1. Self – When we think we can do it all, and our focus is on us instead of what God can do through us – we have made ourselves greater than God. Not only does relying on our own self rather than God for any of our needs become an idol, it also sets ourselves up for the accompaniment with the spirit of pride.
2. Security – Whether we are consistently looking to money, relationships, or even the literal safety of our home for our security and protection instead of to God, we have just made an idol out of the safety and security of these things. Psalm 91 became my scripture verses when I started backpacking the Appalachian Trail – it was my protection Psalm. In fact, I adopted the Trail name “Kool91” based on these scripture verses. And God literally saw me through the 2,200 miles of backpacking over 11 years – at times in some dangerous situations. In Him did I trust.
3. Approval – When we are continually striving for the approval from others – our boss, our spouse, our peers, business cohorts or even ourselves – we have just placed their opinion and approval over who God already says we are – we are His, and in His eyes, we are made in His image – perfect! The only One we should be seeking approval from is God. People pleasers can fall into worshipping this idol.
4. Relationships – Are you valuing time spent with, or doing for anyone else above time spent with God? You have allowed them to become your idol. Whether it be your spouse, your children, or even your peers – those you allow to influence your thoughts, words, deeds and actions – you have placed them in higher priority than God. Of course, God has placed each of us here on this earth to love and serve one another – in fact He commands us to do so. It’s when we place anyone above God that our priorities become out of alignment.
5. Success – When “what you do” becomes more important than “who you are” this can become an idol. When your measuring stick is how far up the corporate ladder you can climb without the foresight of knowing “why” you are even climbing except for the approval of others pertaining to your status in life, or your title – this could be an idol. There is nothing wrong with hard work, in fact we talked about that in the last blog on slothfulness. It’s when we prioritize that over our devotion to God that it becomes an idol.
6. Wealth – this is probably one of the most obvious idols, and one the Bible specifically references “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24). Just like everything else we have been looking at here, it is not wrong to earn money, even make an abundant amount of money – if that is what God has tasked you wit

h doing. It’s what we do with it; when we have our priorities out of order and we put money ahead of God that we create an idol out of it.

7. Health – yes, this too can become an idol when we place so much time, energy and money into taking care of health. We need to be careful that it doesn’t become an obsession for us – whether it’s placing unrealistic boundaries on the foods we eat, exercising obsessively and of course being obsessed with our appearance and most of all our weight.
8. Food – Again, another obvious one when we think of idols – and we talked about this in the blog on gluttony. Our stomach becomes our god the Bible says. Almost certain when we find ourselves idolizing something over God, greed and excessive indulgence is guaranteed to be present as well – not just with food but anything we place in a higher priority than God.
9. Intellect – Some people put themselves fairly high up on a pedestal based on how much they think they know. They like to show off their knowledge rather than applying it to the things that God has called them to utilize it for. Again – hand in hand with this idol you just might find pride as well.
10. Comfort – We can become so obsessed with finding the most convenient ways to luxury to “ease our burdens” that our compass gets way off course. We forget why we even do the things we are doing some time, and it becomes an idol rather than tool to be used for God’s glory.

In Summary

After reflecting on each of these for a moment, let’s take one last look at the vision and word God gave me about our wholistic health and see if any of these 10 examples might fit in here – or maybe there are even other things in your life that you can recognize as a potential idol:

“I see a dependence on things other than Me, like drugs and medications. I see fear, I see gluttony,… I see a lack of trust in Me to take care of them—not after the fact but instead of. For example, they will eat foods made by man because they are fast, easy, and cheap, rather than eating foods I made for them like fruits, vegetables, grains,… they do not slow down long enough to minister to their Temples, they don’t slow down to spend time with Me. They are depending on so many other things rather than Me. Food is their god.”

The bottom line of each of these idols? Our Heavenly Father IS already all of these. He has already blessed us with each of these, through His Son Jesus Christ. All of these are already ours. But we have to invite Him into our lives and turn the steering wheel over to Him to receive the benefits of each of these from Him.

Now this is not saying that you shouldn’t value and honor any of these things. They just simply should not, and cannot, ever be placed in a higher place of priority over the God Who created you and is already all of these things for you.

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