Identify the Idol

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”—1 John 5:21

What is an idol? For many of us the question is archaic and absurd. We understand idols as statues for people in third world countries to bow down and worship. Such a view, while commonplace, fails to understand the very pervasive nature of idolatry. Idolatry is so much more than a statue!

Then what is it? There have been many attempts to define idolatry. John Owen, the puritan divine, called idolatry a “living affection to dying things.” Mark Driscoll, a contemporary American pastor defined it as “usually good things that we turn into God things and in turn become bad things.” Perhaps another way of putting it is, “good things that become ultimate things which then become bad things.” But, I define idolatry as anything we treat like God that’s not God. It’s as simple as that—its taking any person or thing and trying to put it on the throne of our heart. It can be anything:

*Status (Adam & Eve wanted to be like God—Genesis 3:6)

*Stubbornness (getting our own way like Pharaoh insisted—Exodus 8:15, 32; 9:34)

*Our stomach (Esau traded his birthright for a bowl of stew—Genesis 25:29-34; cf. Philippians 3:19)

*Sex (Samson lost his eyes because he kept giving into his lust and sleeping with different women—Judges 13-16)

*Success (Solomon had many wives because of his desire for great political alliances, which led him into great sin—Deuteronomy 17:17; Nehemiah 13:26)

*Stuff (the rich young ruler turned away from Jesus because he loved his stuff more than God—Mark 10:17-22)

*Self-image (Ananias and Sapphira wanted the approval of others so they lied about how much money they made in a business deal—Acts 5:1-11)

*Spirituality (Saul who became Paul was so zealous for Judaism that he persecuted the church to the point of overseeing executions of Christians—Acts 8:1; cf. Philippians 3:4-6).

Each of us has some kind of idol. But how do you know what your idol is? Here are four things you need to ask yourself to find out: Does it capture my heart? Idolatry acts just like Woody Allen did when he tried to justify his affair with his ex-wife Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter, “The heart wants what it wants.” Our hearts are seduced by the idols charming power and we find ourselves constantly wanting it and doing whatever we can to get it.

Secondly, do I find myself cultivating it by my sinful habits? Do you keep going back to it? Are you constantly making excuses for it? Do you refuse to do anything that might stop it from happening? Do you refuse to associate with anyone who questions the validity of your idol? You can’t afford to lose it, so you continually will sacrifice for it.

Thirdly, does it control my happiness? This is where the rubber meets the road. Most of idolaters find that their happiness has become intimately tied to the idol. You can’t be happy unless you somehow feed or satisfy the idol. This is why the porn addict has to see porn, the glutton has to eat, the girl who starves herself has to be thin—the idol has sold the lie that there is no happiness apart from itself. But that’s not true. The idol is a product of the devil and the devil is the father of lies (John 8:44).

And last but not least, do I find myself constantly trying to hide my idol from others? There are some, who refuse to hide their idol, and come out trying to trumpet its validity and worth, but such individuals are fools and God will show the futility of the idol’s power at the end of time. However, most of us are closet idolaters—keeping it safely away from curious eyes. We would be horrified if it got out—which reveals how much of an idol it really is. If we are afraid for others to see it, so that we go so far as to hide it, then we know that it is an idol.

The only way to break free of idolatry is to confess it to the Lord and ask Him to free us. There is no other way. No amount of self-will or discipline will truly break us free. Only God’s grace available to us in and through Christ can truly set us free. He sets the captive free, and severs the chains of sin that constrict our soul. The freedom from idolatry may take a moment or a lifetime, but God will set free those who continually rely on Him. Amen.