No More Idols

Before I was even in grade school and knew how to read I, along with my parents, was learning about the End Times from my grandfather. 

‘Big Daddy’, as we used to call him, was a talented artist. As he taught us about the coming end of the age, he referenced hand drawn elaborate transparencies about the Rapture and the ensuing calamity that would result.  

Downed planes. Crashed cars. Utter confusion and chaos in the world. Darkness.

I was utterly convinced that Jesus could return at any moment for his Church. It made quite an impression on my mind as a young child. 

One Christmas season I remember being extremely excited about the presents I knew I was going to get. I don’t know how I knew in advance what I was getting, but I knew it would be a brand new, two-story Barbie Dream House with an elevator! 

I can’t remember a time in my life before or since where I was practically salivating over the coming Christmas holiday. My anticipation was palpable. 

Counting down the days felt like counting decades. I simply could not wait for Christmas day!

Then, it occurred to my little child mind that one thing could come between me and my precious Barbie Dream House…the Rapture!

The thought devastated me.

“Oh no! What if Jesus comes back before Christmas Day?” I bemoaned. “Then, I’ll never get a chance to play with my dream house!”

What’s a small kid to do in such dire circumstances? 

Suddenly, the solution presented itself to me as clear as day. I knew EXACTLY what to do.

With all seriousness and sincerity, I prayed, “Dear Jesus, if you don’t mind, could you not come back for us before Christmas? I really want to play with my Barbie house. Thank you! Amen.”

I’ve shared this story before about how well taught I was as a child. However, I missed the most important and glaring lesson that this story illustrated in my life. 

I used to find this story to be hilarious. Now, I realize that what it exposed deep in my heart, even as a child, is no laughing matter. 

Without knowing it back then, I had just lived the perfect example of what idolatry looks like in the modern times.

I wanted and valued something more than I wanted and valued God himself.

After we buried my Dad in early October 2022, I remember returning home to Switzerland and  contemplating how I could best honor him and his legacy with the rest of my life. 

Just then I heard the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit, “You’re worried about pleasing the wrong Father”.

In that moment, it dawned on me that I had idolized my Dad my entire life. If you’d ever attended a Bible study or class with me when we lived in the States, then there’s no doubt in my mind you would have heard me mention him and something he’d taught me about the Bible.

There is no one I admired more in my life than him. He was another of my idols.

When I was in need, stressed, anxious, or even if I needed help understanding the Bible, the first person I called was my dad. Not God.

More than 40 years had passed between the Barbie House prayer and my Dad’s death.

And I still didn’t recognize idolatry in my own life.

You may not recognize it in your own life either.  But God certainly does.

In the transcribed interview titled, “What is Idolatry” on desiringgod.com, John Piper explained: “Paul says, “Covetousness, which is idolatry.” So what idolatry looks like today is the activity of the human heart. This is not a deed of the body. That follows — a fruit on a branch. It starts in the heart: craving, wanting, enjoying, being satisfied by anything that you treasure more than God. That is an idol. Paul calls this covetousness — a disordered love or desire, loving more than God what ought to be loved less than God and only for the sake of God. But covetousness is the condition that this disordered heart is in, an act of loving too much what ought to be loved less. And that is why the wrath of God is coming. That is what idolatry looks like today. And it is everywhere in our culture.”

“Idolatry starts in the heart: craving, wanting, enjoying, being satisfied by anything that you treasure more than God.” So finally: What is an idol? Well, it is the thing. It is the thing loved or the person loved more than God, wanted more than God, desired more than God, treasured more than God, enjoyed more than God.”

The more you fill your life up with the things of this world, the less desire you will have for God. 

The apostle John wrote that the WHOLE WORLD is under the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19) and that everything that is IN THE WORLD is not from the Father (1 John 2:16).

Is it any wonder then that James wrote that those who LOVE THE WORLD have made themselves an enemy of God? (James 4:4).

Search your own soul while you still have time. Don’t bother looking at the lives of other believers around you. Don’t seek false comfort in the fact that likely everyone you know is in the same idolatrous boat. 

This is between you and God. You alone will answer to Him for the condition of your own heart.

Where or to whom do you turn to for comfort?

For wisdom or advice?

What or in whom do you place your trust and hope? 

Is it your career? Your country? A political party? A leader? Your bank or retirement accounts?

Who or what do you value most?

How do you spend your time and resources?

Where do you seek pleasure?

How do you entertain yourself?

Anything can become an idol in our lives, including our own selves or lifestyles!

As the Holy Spirit blasted the bright light of God’s truth in my life, many hidden idols in my life were exposed.

My ministry and my own intellect were two of the biggest false gods that had to be dethroned in my life. 

Unfortunately, there were many others. 

I’ll talk specifically about books, music, and movies in another post.

As I repented and renounced each idol in my life, I experienced, often immediately, freedom from demonic oppression. I had a literal and tangible release every single time I confessed the sin of idolatry and the specific nature in which it took hold in my life.

Praise be to God that in his kindness He led me down this path of repentance. I shudder to think of what my end result would have been had I not repented.

People, listen well.

The wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience (Colossians 3:6). 

There is little time left. 

Search your hearts today and ask God to reveal every single idol in your life.

Then repent, get rid of whatever He shows you, and turn wholly toward God to seek His face.

He alone is worthy of worship.