Over the course of the last two years, I have been training to become a certified Biblical Counselor. During this training process, I have read many books, memorized Scripture, and been mentored by a wonderful and wise man and woman. During this process of training, the Biblical principle that has convicted me the most is that of idolatry. I have always thought of idolatry like the idols in the Old Testament. As mentioned in Exodus 20:4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or the likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” Today in America, I don’t think there are too many people that are carving images out of stone and bowing down and worshipping them or sacrificing to them. I always thought of idolatry in modern day America as worshipping your car, or money, or some other treasure that you valued highly.
I felt pretty good about myself because even though I really like my car and my house and even my bike, I didn’t worship them. I never bowed down to them. I didn’t sacrifice anything to them. I didn’t pray to them. I always knew in my heart that if I had to get rid of any of the things in my life that I might consider to be treasures, I knew that I could still be content without them. I wasn’t an idolater. I loved God more than I loved anything else, but then I started to understand idolatry in a whole new light in our modern day world. Then the conviction began to take place.
Colossians 3:5 says, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Did you catch what this verse says is idolatry? Covetousness. Covetousness means to want what you do not have. Does this mean that if you are hungry and want a hamburger and you don’t have it in your home and you have to go to a restaurant to buy it, you are coveting? NO. What about if you want a hamburger for supper and your spouse who usually prepares all the meals serves chicken instead and you get angry with them for not having hamburgers, are you now coveting? Yes. What you want has caused you to sin.
So often we exhibit emotions that God would call sin and these emotions lead back to something that we want that we do not have. Our emotions that come out of us are a peephole into our thinking. We talked about the tie between our emotions and our thinking a few weeks ago. When the emotions of anger, bitterness, anxiety, worry, and woe is me, others would be better without me, perfectionism, control, etc. begin to show up in our lives, we must realize that there is thinking that is unbiblical and many times this unbiblical thinking has developed into an idol.
So when we start to exhibit emotions such as anger, worry or anxiety, bitterness, etc., we must examine our hearts and find out what it is that we want. I John 2:16 tells us “For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life – is not from the Father but is from the world.” So how could we put this verse into more concrete idols that we might have in our hearts that we have begun to hold dear to us? Here is a sample list.
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- Security
- Affection/love
- Attention
- Satisfaction
- Comfort, refuge, ease of life
- Joy, happiness
- Approval
Have you ever wanted any of these things so much that you have sinned to try to get them? In America, we feel like we deserve life to be comfortable and easy. We are willing to sin in order to get that comfort and ease. How often do you feel inconvenienced when what you want your schedule to look like only to have it interrupted by a broken down car, or the kids interrupt our quiet time and we get angry at them for bothering us, or how much Covid has interrupted and inconvenienced our lives. So you may not be bowing down and worshipping your car, but you may be worshipping comfort and ease. Are you sinning in order to get what you want?
Take some time to think about what it is that you want. What emotions frequently exhibit themselves? How would others characterize you? Now what is it that you want that is causing those emotions? That is probably your idol.
Remember Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me.”
Let’s celebrate Christmas this year truly worshipping the Lord who came to earth for us, rather than trying to worship the idols in our lives that never bring true peace, hope, or joy.
