Idols of the HeartShembull

Let us remember who we are. We are a chosen people, holy and set apart. We are the bride of Christ who is making herself ready for His return. We are to keep ourselves for Him and Him alone. When we forget the WHY of our lives, we lose our way and allow other things to grab at our hearts.

Paul tells us that we must put the deeds of the flesh to death. Don’t try to tame it, don’t try to control it. You must kill it.

What was physical in the Old Testament is spiritual in the New Testament. Remember the first commandment:

And God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.3 You shall have no other gods before me.” Ex 20:2-3

We may say that we have no idols or other gods that we worship and that we only follow Christ. Let us do a pit-stop check. You may be right. How about the idols of the heart?

Remember you are not common; therefore, you cannot live as if you are. We are reminded repeatedly that we are strangers in this world. And yet, this is how many Christians live. They want the perks of prayers answered, etc., and they want to flirt with their old ‘boyfriends’.

IDOLS OF THE HEART

So, what are some of the idols of the heart? There are many and they keep us from fulfilling our calling and thus weakening our influence on the world.

What is an idol?

Anything that we desire more than God or that takes the place of God.

The Greek word is epithumiai — over-desire.

Idols of the HEART – the word of God says the heart is the wellspring of life (Prov. 4:23), and out of the overflow of the heart comes all kinds of greed, etc. (Matt 15:19)

So, while we may look at someone and say, “Oh, they are power-thirsty, they are a control freak, they love pleasure, etc.," those are only the fruits of idols of the heart. Behaviour is a product of beliefs which are the ROOT of the issue.

Dealing with the idols of the heart is not about behaviour modification but heart transformation. When the heart is in the right place, the behaviour automatically follows. Whenever you see a behaviour change (good or bad), you know something has changed in a person’s heart.

Some idols can even be good things. The key is we over-desire them.

Timothy Keller writes, “God was saying that the human heart takes good things like a successful career, love, material possessions, even family, and turns them into ultimate things. Our hearts deify them as the centre of our lives, because, we think, they can give us significance and security, safety and fulfilment, if we attain them.”

So, an IDOL is anything that we make the ultimate thing in our lives, over God.

REFLECTIONS

Can you recognize the things you have desired more than God?

Ask the Holy Spirit to start showing you those areas that are still not surrendered to Jesus.