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Idol Worship
A friend of mine recently confessed to me that she has made her children her “idols.” She said her world is wrapped up in them and worrying about them has become a normal way of life for her. When they do well, she soars emotionally. When they fail, she crashes.
She confessed this sin and reaffirmed that there is “no other Rock” besides God Himself (Isaiah 44:8.) I can identify with her struggle, and, unfortunately, just like Israel, I’ve had to confess the sin of idolatry many times.
God says this about idols: They’re worthless and those who worship them are blind and stupid. Continued idol worship will bring a person to shame and their lives to destruction (Isaiah 44:8-20.)
Anything can become an idol, no matter how good of a thing it is. Some idols are easier to identify than others. And some idols are incredibly subtle. But they can become idols just the same:
If only I had that job promotion, more money, bigger house, more recreation, expensive clothes, nicer car.
Relationships: Well-behaved children, a better spouse, cooler friends
Anything that gives me my identity: power, popularity, intelligence, beauty
How can we know if something meant for our enjoyment has turned into an idol? Maybe a good test is this: When we think about not having what we want, we feel anxious, confused, and desperate.
We think and plan and connive ways to get what we’re after. We’re consumed with anxiety about how to get what we want. We’re confused about which direction to take to get what we want. We wrongly believe that this thing, whatever it is, will bring us life; that it will save us. In desperation, we think that if we don’t have this, we will die.
Can we live without idols? We can’t live with them. It’s like feeding on ashes (Isaiah 8:20.)
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Like the article.Yes I have used my husband as an idol the last two yrs we have been seperated also that long.I feel bad and have apologized to the Lord for loving a man who hasn’t wanted me and I have agonized over him.I have confessed this and still need to get over it.Start loving the Lord and having Him take controll over my life
Your comment sounds a lot like my daily journal for the past 15 years. By that I mean I was always in constant turmoil about my family. My kids and my ex. I constantly agonized about them not loving me and I always ended my journal the same way. Love the Lord and give control to Him. It took almost 16 years, but last summer I forgave my husband and I was set free. The strange part of that is I left him. I just couldn’t get over the fact that he didn’t want to change the way I needed him to. There is more to that but that’s the short of it. Last year I came to a complete stop in life and suffered from post traumatic stress. Even in my condition I didn’t want help because I believed me and God could set me straight. Did God set me straight? yes but it took the skill of a phyciatrist to make the breakthrough, and a study from the mental health clinic. The words that captured my attention were, that is unhelpful thinking. Simple enough but powerful. The Lords words to that are, Take every thought captive. So what we think is either going to be helpful to us or unhelpful. God will always help us through crisis but sometimes he uses others who have the skills he has provided for our benefit. Get professional help you won’t be sorry. I am still struggling with the “worship” of a man that is not available to be with me, but because God has set me free from all my past sins and shown me how much He loves me I know that I will be set free from what I have aquired while walking in the desert. I see God as a friend now not a Boss who is waiting for me to fail. Even though we fail we do not have to walk around on a daily basis with our heads hung low. He knows that we are but dust and so he holds us gently not firmly so we can have peace and not shame.
Thanks for the info
I just signed up to your blogs rss feed. Will you post more on this subject?
trudi
i hope GOd will help me like he did to u. pls pray for us
I struggle so much with the idol worship of my husband. I don’t know how to stop. I am a part of Celebrate Recovery at my church and even facillitate a group, but I always fall here. I’ve been with my husband for 16 years. I have worked so hard at counseling and other things to make me aware of my issues from an abusive childhood, but I cannot shake idolizing my husband. Sometimes he can’t shake me and we do really well for a while, but somehow someway I fall back. I love Jesus. I don’t want to love my husband more than Him. It seems that we do well and I feel secure and then something happens where he really let me down and before I know it I’m angry and doing the old behaviors again. It’s almost like I feel safe and then I go back to old ways. Any advice for keeping yourself vigilant? Is this something that is worked on the rest of your life? I’m scared.