When we make something into an idol, here’s what we do: We inflate its function. Something becomes an idol when you give it more function than it was designed to have. It starts to function as a god in your life. It’s something that you start to worship and obey, and you will not violate the commands of your idol. It’s functioning like a god. It drives us with warnings and promises. We have to have it. It leads us to shame. Our life feels wrong if we don’t attain our idol.
So how can you tell if something has become an idol in your life? There’s a difference between a desire and an idol. How can you tell if you’ve moved from a desire to an idol?
Well, David Powlison has asked a number of questions that I find good and helpful. They’re penetrating questions on this subject. So let me ask you a few of these questions.
You see, there are three places where we get tripped up. We face the onslaught of the world, the flesh, and the devil. The world gives us cultural lies. The flesh gives us those carnal impulses, and the devil takes both of those and just pumps them up. That’s why we have to renew our minds with biblical thinking.
* What do you organize your life around? Do you organize your life around anything or anyone? If so, they may have become idols.
* What do you want or crave or wish for? What do you obsess over? What preoccupies your thinking? What do you find your mind instinctively drifting toward? What fills your conversation?
* What are you willing to sacrifice an inordinate amount of time or money to obtain? That may be an idol in your life.
* What do you fear losing? What is it, that if you lost it, you would lose your desire to live because all of the meaning would be sucked out of your life, all desire to move forward would be lost? That’s an idol.
* What do you rejoice over? What present or hoped-for things bring you great pleasure or delight? That could be an idol.
* What makes you angry or frustrated?
* What can cause anxiety or great stress?
* How do you define success or failure? How do you weigh your significance or insignificance?
* How do you define yourself?
These are helpful questions to help you think about: Has something taken on the proportion of an idol in your life?
Ask these questions when you see there’s an idol, a potential idol, you ask the questions, and these idols will appear.
At the root of all of our sin is idolatry. Someone has said, “Idols are cruel masters holding out false promises and making unreasonable demands of your life. They require that you sacrifice for them, and yet they make no sacrifices for you.”
How do you deal with idols in your life? You deal with them this way:
* First of all, you identify them.
* Secondly, you confess that they’re idols.
* Third, you turn from them. You repent. That’s what repent means—to turn from.
* And then, here’s the key thing: You have to replace the idol with God.
Do you have idols in your life? It is a very dangerous thing to not know about yourself. This subject is worth the time to figure out. Find a friend to confide in and pray with you. This will make you accountable for the wrong idols in your life. Pray , repent of your wrong ways and you will find freedom from bondage as God works immediately to restore your life to the fullest. After your time of trial and suffering, take the time to thank God for bringing you out of the pit and rejoice in His goodness with your Sisters in Christ. It will inspire them as they hear of how you have overcome struggles in your life!
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