Idolatry.
What is idolatry?
Idolatry simply put, is whatever you subconsciously or consciously put above the true living God, or whatever you subconsciously or consciously make equal to or greater than the true living God.
If you really think about it, now a days idolatry is pretty sneaky and can come in any shape or form. It could be ourselves, ministry, food, a family member, body image, and/or cars. All in all, it could be absolutely anything.
Before idols were super easy to identify because they were mainly physically man made. But now a days they can come in the form of being both physically man made and/or spiritually man made sitting on the throne’s of our hearts.
As it is written in Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
We know that with context this verse is talking about how a person cannot worship God and money at the same time. But when we really think about the verse on a deeper scale it is really addressing idolatry. That we cannot serve a false god and the true living God simultaneously. That our treasure must be in God so that our hearts can be fully with Him.
In Exodus 34:14 it says, “[...] for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God [...]”.
So if it is written that God “is a jealous God”, then this shows us that God is not willing for our desires or affections to be shared with any other gods other than Him. Of course God is not saying we cannot show the love of Christ to others, but what He is saying is that He does not want just a part of us, but He wants all of us because we are His spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5 & Hebrews 3:6).
We pray that as we go through this blog (we also have a video linked if you’d like to tune into the podcast) that the Holy Spirit will convict, encourage, and make every crooked path straight to draw us closer and closer to Jesus. Remember there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1), so lets look into the topic of idolatry a little deeper so that we can expose and tear down any idols that may be on the thrones of our hearts in Jesus’ name, so that God can claim His rightful throne on our hearts in Jesus’ name.
How to Overcome and Tear Down Idols:
1) Acknowledge the idolatry for what it is - Do not make excuses
2) Repent - make a change in our hearts and minds in deciding to no longer do thing that is displeasing to God. In this case it is putting anything above God and/or anything that was made equal to or greater than the true living God.
- 2 Chronicles 7:14: “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
3) Decide to tear down all of the idols - physically and/or spiritually
If it is a physical idol, throw away everything and anything that resembles false gods whether it is a conviction or a personal conviction from the Holy Spirit.
If it is a spiritual idol, renounce those false god’s and with the Holy Spirit tear them down and then rebuild the pure spiritual altar for the Lord.
4) Take Action/ Make a Plan of Action:
With the Holy Spirit take action and/or make a plan of action. Sometimes it may be a process that takes some time because it was made into a habitual thing. Remember we want to break chains not continue them. This is why we need the Holy Spirit because He knows exactly how to break the chains by the blood of Jesus.