How To Tell If Idolatry Is Destroying Your Life

Idolatry seems so irrelavent to many of us. We think, "I don't bow down to statues or worship false gods like the ancient pagans did. Check! At least that's one commandment I know I'm not breaking!" But idolatry can't be irrelevant to us today. It can't be something only the people in the Old Testament struggled with. It can't be something only tribes out in the jungles are guilty of. It must mean something more than just bowing down to a statue or a totem pole. Why? Because Colossians 3:5 says this: "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry."

Let me try the best I can to boil down the meaning of idolatry in the simplest of terms. Idolatry is simply this: bringing more glory to something or someone other than God. And how do you bring glory to something or someone? You devote yourself to it. Think about it: Whatever you're radically devoted to gets glory. If you're radically devoted to a person or a hobby or animals or food or music or making money or your own reputation, that person, place, or thing will receive glory. I receive glory when someone says to me, "I love spending time with you. I just want more of your time. If it were up to me, we'd hang out every day." If someone said that to me, I'd receive glory. So, devotion through praise, time, gifts, etc., gives glory to the object of your affection. The Bible calls this "worship".

However, it's not wrong to be devoted to people, places, or things to a certain extent. It's just wrong to be devoted to them more than we are God. So, the all-important question is this: How do I know if I've crossed that line? How do I know if my devotion to a certain person or thing is too much? How do I know if I'm guilty of idolatry? Well, John Piper answers that question so well in one of his latest blogs. He makes this profound point: idolatry is what ruins our relationship with God AND our relationship with others. Therefore, we would all do well to mull his words over thoughtfully, slowly, and carefully. Just click on the link below.



http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/2009/3991_Discerning_Idolatry_in_Desire/