The Idols of our Hearts.

Throughout the Bible, God commands us to be wholeheartedly devoted to Him (Mark 12:29-30). To have an undivided heart that is dedicated to worshipping only Him. However, throughout the Old Testament, the Israelites forsake this commandment as they turn to worship idols. Idolatry is just as prevalent today– among both Christians and non-Christians. But now, it’s not physical idols that we worship, but the idols that we have created in our hearts.

"The human heart is an idol factory" - John Calvin

1. Identify your idols

What is an idol? An idol is anything that we love more than God. Think about it, what do you take the greatest pleasure in? What do you treasure the most or take pride in? What occupies your mind the most? Entertainment, good grades, social media, approval of others, money, relationships, a sports team? Many of these things are not inherently "bad". But when they start to take the place of God in our lives, they become an idol.

We were first and foremost created to be in a relationship with God. We were created to love, worship, and know Him. But, the things of this world tempt us to redirect our love and worship to other things. When we harbour an idol in our hearts, we gain more pleasure indulging in these idols rather than spending time with God. Spending time with God begins to feel like a burden and a chore. We’d rather be watching the newest episode of a TV show than reading His Word. It's spending time with God but at the same time thinking “I’d rather be doing this _________”. Or rushing your time with God so you can go back to what you actually want to be doing.

Instead of spending time with Him just because we love Him, we end up only doing it because we would feel guilty otherwise. I would say, that’s not wholeheartedly loving Him. If we truly love someone, we would enjoy spending time with them. We don’t spend time with them because we feel like we NEED to, but because we WANT to and love being in their presence.

2. Are the desires of your heart disordered?

When we harbour idols in our hearts, our desires become disordered. As John Piper has said, our hearts are either ordered or disordered. When we desire God more than everything else in our lives, our hearts are in order. And it’s not loving Him a little more. It’s loving Him above all else. There should be no “close second” next to God because He is more than worthy of all our attention, love, and praise. If we've decided to dedicate our lives to God, there should be no competing loyalties in our hearts. And when our loyalty does not completely lie with God, this will ultimately lead to the dethronement of God in our hearts (Zondervan).

We all fail to love Him above all else, but as His followers, we should at least be striving to get there.

3. Destroy the idols in your heart

If we don't destroy the idols in our hearts, our relationship with God will eventually be destroyed. There should be nothing in our lives that is jeopardizing our relationship with God. In the Old Testament, the kings who were described as wholeheartedly following the Lord immediately destroyed the idols when they came in power. Destroying idols PLEASES God. So are we going to decide to please Him or continue pleasing our flesh?

“Josiah did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight…” 2 Chronicles 34:1

“Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and he had all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the Lord, the God of their ancestors.” 2 Chronicles 34:33

Idols are detestable to God because we are giving them the honour and praise they don’t deserve. A counterfeit, worthless god rules over our hearts and desires, instead of the one true God. And we ultimately fail to give God the honour and praise He deserves. It’s attributing something as more WORTHY of our attention and love than God.

When we discover an idol in our hearts, we need to repent and remove it as King Josiah did with physical idols. How does that look practically? Well often, it requires extreme effort. I knew a girl who used to have an Instagram and was so addicted to it. It had become her idol. So, she decided to deactivate it for a month and rededicate her time to God. After a month, she realized that she enjoys spending time with God way more than on Instagram (and ended up deleting it once and for all). I'm not saying that you all have to go delete your social media. It's that we need to do whatever is necessary to remove that idol as a stumbling block in our relationship with God. It reminds me of this verse:

"And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell." Matthew 5:30

The devil will always deceive us into thinking that we will gain more pleasure in spending time with our idols than with God. He will do everything to get us from spending time with God. If we want our fleshly desires to stop ruling over our minds and hearts, we need to starve it. Starve your fleshly desires and feed the Spirit instead. We can’t have both the flesh and the Spirit as our master. So, are you willing to crucify your fleshly desires in exchange for wholehearted devotion to God? If you invest your time and energy on feeding the Spirit through reading His Word, prayer, and worshipping Him, He will transform your desires. And only He has the ability to transform your desires and reorder your heart.

"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" Galatians 5:24

I encourage us all to pray and ask God to examine our hearts. To expose the idols in our hearts, to give us a repentant heart and the strength to turn away from them. Let's pray that only His Spirit will rule over our minds and hearts, and not the things of this world. And that every day, we will be giving Him the love and praise He deserves and is more than worthy of.

“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.” Galatians 5:16