"For Such A Time As This" (Esther 4:14)

"For Such A Time As This" (Esther 4:14)

Idolatry 101

Hi. My name is Jim and I am an idolater. My idols of choice have been me, as evidenced by my pride, selfishness and self-centeredness.  They have at one time or another in my life included the idols of sports and athletics, the idol of money/financial security, the idols of physical comfort and ease, the idol of the approval and esteem of those around me, the idols of health and safety, the idols of sex and the beauty of women, the idols of freedom and independence, the idol of job and career success, and the idol of religion and self-righteousness.

Having been brought to my senses (2 Timothy 2:24-26), I have confessed these idols to the one alone who has been most grieved, most disgusted, most offended by my idolatry, namely God.  I have acknowledged that I have no way within myself of making amends for this most grievous and fundamental expression of sin and have acknowledged my helplessness to overcome and forsake these idols apart from His power and grace.  And thus, I have entrusted my life to the one who through His life, death and resurrection has made amends to God on my behalf, and is thus able and willing to justly forgive me of this most grievous sin, namely Jesus Christ, God the Son.  And it is to His Lordship that I have submitted my life for the purpose of allowing Him to remove these idols from my heart, restoring my nature and character back to the image of God, and to create in me an all-consuming passion to know and love and be loved by God above all else; to worship and glorify Him, which is the reason for which God created man in the beginning.

The above scenario suggests a twelve-step program, such as AA or NA.  In such a program participants acknowledge their addiction(s); admit that they are powerless over them and need a “higher power”, a god of their own understanding to enable them to overcome them.  They are encouraged to take a moral inventory of how they have harmed others as a result of their addiction and commit to making amends/seeking forgiveness from them.

The problem with most twelve-step programs, however, is that the so called addict fails to identify their addiction(s) for what they are, namely idols that replace God as the controlling influence in their lives, as the one they build their lives around, as the one whom they were created to pursue their comfort, pleasure, sense of security and joy in. Thus, the one they have offended, the one whom they need to make amends to and seek forgiveness from, is first and foremost God (Psalm 51:3-4).

Add to that the fact that with most twelve step programs, the idea of god or a “higher power” is subjective, left to the addict/idolater’s own imagination or preferences of who or what God is, which only adds to the idolatrous nature of this way of dealing with “addiction”.

An idol is anything that we depend on to be happy, fulfilled or secure other than the God who reveals Himself in the Bible and in the person of Jesus Christ. In Biblical terms, an idol is something other than God that we set our heart on, that we love and pursue in place of God (1 John 2:15).  It is that which chiefly motivates us (James 4:3), that masters and rules us (Psalm 119:133) (John 8:34), and that we trust, fear, or serve (Isaiah 42:17) (Matthew 6:24) (Luke 12:4-5) in place of the true and living God.

Christian Counselor Edward Welch in His book ADDICTIONS A Banquet in the Grave, makes a compelling argument that all we call addiction is essentially idolatry, with drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, illicit sex, gambling, career success, obsessive pursuit of fame and money; excessive and compulsive shopping and eating comprising the idols pursued. He notes that these are are not idols that can be possessed like a statue of Buddha, but instead possess us, control us, define us and ultimately bring destruction to our relationships, our bodies, and ultimately our souls.

Another Christian counselor, Dr. David Powlison, in his article in the Journal of Biblical Counseling titled Idols of the Heart and Vanity Fair, notes the following: “The biblical theme of idolatry provides a penetrating tool for understanding both the springs of and the inducements to sinful behavior.  The causes of particular sins, whether “biological drives,” “psychodynamic forces from within,” “socio-cultural conditioning from without,” or “demonic temptation and attack” can be truly comprehended through the lens of idolatry.”

Idolatry is the foundational sin from which all other sins and transgressions against God and neighbor proceed.  It is a violation of the first and second of the ten laws or commandments that God gave to Moses at Mt. Sinai (Exodus  20:1-4), and more comprehensively, a failure to keep the overarching  commandment given by God in both the Old and New Testament (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) (Luke 10:25-27), namely that “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind”.

I will move on to a more advanced understanding of idolatry and its destructiveness in our world and to our soul in my next post.

Grace and Truth ×