We in this culture don’t think we have idols. Sure many use the term with some celebrities. We even have a popular TV show actually using the term as a good thing. But really …what is it today? How does God see it?
So let’s begin with some questions.
Are there things in your life that if God actually took them away from you tomorrow .. would you be okay with that? If your answer is no, then you have been finding some part of your identity in it. And if you’ve been finding some sort of identity in it … then its become an idol to you.
An idol represents who you are and what you find value in, and what you worship. It’s part of your identity.
And idol is the thing you can’t give up, because you think it is a part of you, or it’s just “who you are”.
Obviously we know what God thinks of idols.
How do we know if we really have any idols in our lives? Because we’ve become REALLY good at lying to ourselves. And we LOVE denial. And we often shoo aside that nagging Voice of the Holy Spirit on this topic. “Me have idols?! I don’t have any graven images!”
“Yeah but you’ll never give up that Corvette.” Or piece of jewelry, or anything else that now you consider to be a part of you. Guitar, bicycle, pipe, etc.
The best way to find out if you have an idol is to ask the Holy Spirit. In my life it has only taken a split second for Him to respond to this question. I know for others it takes a little longer, Sometimes I think He is much more gentle with others than He is with me. I’ve had to give up and give away things I REALLY liked.
Remember the ‘pruning’ lesson? God will DEFINITELY want to prune the idols out of your life.
So the hard question for today is… Holy Spirit are there any idols in my life?
Be ready for some painful reality. But the pruning will only make you MORE fruitful. If you actually ‘let go’ of them.
Just be brave and rip that band aid off fast!