Deep idols

So I realize that is has been a couple of weeks since I last wrote anything. My plan initially was to write at least once a week based on the notion that God is surely teaching me something at least once a week. It has been harder recently to sit down and write. Partly it is because I am beginning to have more going on here in Midland with work, church, friends, etc. Mostly that is just an excuse though. Partly it is because my time in the Word has suffered due to my increased activities. This is also just an excuse and a lame one at that. I think the main reason I have not written is that I have not sought to hear what God is teaching and have blatantly clouded Him out with other stuff. Active disobedience, honestly.

I’m learning that I have many idols in my life that I worship before God. Now most of these are surface idols, but I am learning that I have some deeper idols that lie beneath the surface idols. Success at any cost. Approval of and pleasing others (even those I don’t know). These idols play themselves out in many different ways in my life, but I think that most of the things that I put before God come from these roots.

Stuff is just stuff. Money is just money. TV is just TV. Work is just work. People are just people. Approval is just approval. Success is just success. All of these things are not inherently good or evil in and of themselves. However, idolatry is taking these things and making them the object of our affection. Idolatry is taking these neutral things and putting them in a place of adoration and worship, which is a place that God deserves only. Idolatry is misusing the gifts of God and making them more important than the Giver. Idolatry is seeking creation and not Creator. Anything in life can be a crutch, idol or sin, because it can lead us away from knowing and walking with Jesus daily, which really means to give Him the place of adoration, worship and love that only He deserves. But in the same way, anything in life can push us closer to Jesus. I think that’s why God is ultimately after our heart and not our stuff, our sacrifice and our religious practices. For me, stuff has not been just stuff recently, but a hindrance to knowing God more.  I have become so self-sufficient that God’s presence is an additive and not a necessity. I have created a life that I can fully accomplish on my own and have no awareness of my need for Jesus daily.

I am just trying to be honest.

I am not really offering solutions to my issues, because Jesus has already done that on the cross.

I am praying that God would rid me and you of our deep idols.