What Are Your Idols?

The Bible is replete with stories of ancient people worshiping religious idols, some as farcical as the one above.

Idol worship is not limited to religion. It is broadly defined as excessive devotion to any person, idea, or thing. 

The ‘person’ can often be ourselves, motivated by short term gratification from a particular ‘thing.’ I used to enjoy the short term gratification of a buzz from three glasses of beer or wine around dinner time. I ignored their long term negative effects and was concentrating on myself and how happy I felt in the moment.

Had you asked me at the time if I worshiped myself or alcohol or if either was an idol, I would have said no. But eventually, I realized that my use of alcohol had become a predominant, dinner time ritual. My alcohol use met the excessive devotion test, and I felt called out by 2 Peter 2:19 “… a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.” Not fond of being a slave, I dropped my short term desire for a buzz and inserted my long term desire for mental freedom, better health, and safe driving.

To be candid, I’m very devoted to other things. Whether that devotion is excessive or enslaving is a question of the object and my degree of devotion, which I need to examine regularly. Isaiah 44: 9 encourages me to do so: “All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless.”