Thank you for coming back to our current series, where we're looking at idols in the lives of Believers today.
In this post and the next, I’d like us to look at some of the common idols good Christian folks turn to, so we can recognise if any of them might be lurking in our own lives.
1. In Lamentations 4 verse 1 we read:
“How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed!”
The city of Jerusalem was the economic and spiritual center of Israel. The temple rose over the horizon with its grand architecture and gleaming jewels. The ark of the covenant, the walls of the sanctuary, the vessels and utensils, and even the shields were made from precious metals. Gold was everywhere.
This wealth made a statement, because gold is connected to glory. But now the gold was dim, because the temple had been destroyed. And the people lamented the loss of their wealth and the security they believed it gave them.
In our society, money has power. It provides security. It creates identity. It gives options.
But if we aren’t careful, money can fuel self-sufficiency.
The security of money or the fear of financial loss can easily become a functional god in our lives. Of course, when we face a recession, the loss of a job, the failure of a business, or when our retirement fund loses its value, we naturally lament.
But hardship or financial stress can quickly reveal an idolatrous fixation with the security that money provides.
Money can be a common idol beneath the surface of our lives. For you it could be the image of success, the temporary satisfaction of something new, the assurance of providing for your family, or the security of your future.
Mark 10 tells a story of a rich ruler who had everything you could want, but he still felt incomplete. Upon seeing Jesus, the ache within drew him to the Savior with such urgency, he broke out into a run and fell to his knees before Him. “Good Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17, NASB).
In love, Jesus replied, “Sell all you have and give it to the poor, then follow Me” (Mark 10:21, paraphrased). Not because Jesus needed the man’s money but rather because He wanted his heart. He saw clearly this ruler’s need and the idol that enslaved him. Generosity would be the man’s key to freedom.
The same holds true for each of us who find ourselves entrapped by materialistic and financial idolatry.
We know inherently that everything we rely on apart from Christ is shaky at best. Careers end, relationships fail, stock markets crash, and unexpected medical bills can wipe out, in a moment, every insufficient foundation we’ve built beneath us.
But Christ never fails. When we place our security in Him, we remain strong, unshakable, no matter the chaos we encounter. To find freedom from the idol of money and security, we simply need to lean deeper into Christ. As we do, we discover He is strong and present enough to carry us through whatever we’ll face.
Now, to be clear – money isn’t bad in and of itself. In fact, we make many idols out of things that aren’t bad on the surface. Tony Evans says that we need to remember that we may have many resources, like time, money, position, and education, but we have only one Source. It’s when we treat the resource like it’s the source of our salvation and our identity that that thing becomes an idol.
2. Suffering and challenges can also reveal a second object of misplaced trust: namely other people. When the fat hits the fire, we can come face-to-face with how much we believe people can fix the problems around us. Whether it’s politics, business, religion, or relationships, we can easily pin our hopes on others.
Lying in the rubble of Jerusalem in Lamentations 4 was not only the gold but also any hope that a leader could fix the mess of the people’s lives. The culture of the nation was broken like “clay pots”, and there was no one to stop the destruction. The wealthy were reduced to rummaging through the ash heaps, while princes, known for their beauty and fame, were now deformed and unrecognizable. Even the king was captured – in Jeremiah 39 we see that King Zedekiah had been arrested as he fled the city, his children were slaughtered, his eyes were gouged out, and he was deported to Babylon.
This tragic story reminds us that there are limitations to human leadership. The power of man-made government, the theories of economics, and the security of a national defence force are not ultimate. These systems and those who lead through them are frail.
We also see this in our personal relationships. Often, new parents become obsessed with their young children, and newlyweds with their new sweethearts. But no human being is designed to fill the empty places in our hearts.
In fact, when we seek our fulfilment and our meaning from others, be it our children, spouses, or friends, and especially if we elevate those relationships above God, we usually end up feeling depleted and let down.
If we fall into the trap of believing that our spouse, our circle of friends, our pastor, or our government are going to save us in the time of trial, we have elevated them to the position of idols.
Our deliverer doesn’t sit in the United Nations, or in the boardroom of the Tesla company, or stand behind a pulpit.
Our hope is in vain if it is in anyone other than the Person of God the Father.
Only God can meet our deepest needs to love and be loved. When we’re centered in Him first and fully, we’re freed to enjoy our relationships with others in a healthy manner. So, when we recognize the idol of relationships invading our hearts, we must draw closer to Jesus. As we surrender everything, including those we hold most dear, to our Saviour, He saturates our souls and brings light and wholeness to our interactions.
3. I love soft pillows and electric blankets and easy access to the Internet. In this church, we like our Nescafe Classic with full cream fresh milk. No Frisco here! We love Sixty Sixty deliveries and we get annoyed if the movie we want to watch isn’t available online yet.
These are all harmless things right?
Well yes, unless we choose these creature comforts over crossing the street to start a conversation with a neighbour, or we choose an extra hour of sleep over getting up early to serve in the church on Sunday morning.
We’ve turned comfort into an idol when we choose lunch at Mugg & Bean over participating in church outreach efforts, or if we prefer sitting with our friends during church over enduring the social awkwardness to reach out to a stranger who just filled in a visitor’s card.
Our comfort is an idol because it lures us into elevating our personal pleasure over our obedience, and over the Gospel.
Our love of peace and safety can create a hard hearted disregard for the people and problems just under the surface of our comfortable communities. It can be easy to insulate ourselves from the city’s needs by retreating to the snug comfort of Netflix and a hot latte.
Rather than keeping the unlikeable and the unsaved at a distance, we need to pray for new eyes, the Holy Spirit’s eyes, to see the true condition of our society and the world at large, and then to open our hearts and step out of our gated and palisaded refuges and into the lives of those who need Jesus.
Please join me again on Friday, when I'll look at 4 more common idols in our lives.
Photo Credit: decoholic.org