When I was little, I thought about idols as those gold, bronze, or wooden statues that frequently tripped up the Israelites. Naturally, I was confused to find New Testament injunctions against Christians worshiping idols.
As a teenager, my understanding was a bit broader. Mostly, money was emphasized. Lots of "you can't serve two masters," and the oft-misquoted "money is the root of all evil." (The actual quote begins "the LOVE of money...") And not much else.
Here's the truth, though. Anything can be an idol. Anything. Growing up mostly in the church, I am pretty good at "doing the right thing" at least outwardly. And of course I know all about not touching "evil" things.
But God wants more than outward compliance. He wants a changed heart. He doesn't want us to simply check off the "right" things. He wants joyful obedience from love and thankfulness. Kinda raises the bar, huh?
What does this have to do with idols? Well, it's easy to make doing the "right" thing, having the right appearance, the right schedule, not doing evil (even fleeing from it) the focus. And that becomes an idol.
I'm in a small book study group, and we're going through a book entitled Peacemaking Women by Tara Klena Barthel and Judy Dabler. One of the chapters is on idols.
I had always thought I was OK on this front. Boy, was I wrong. The authors urged us to go through a series of questions to determine what had taken God's place in my life. Two of the questions really hit me hard, convicted me, really. "I would be happy if only ________________________" and "Don't ask me to give up _______________________."
Two big things came immediately to mind, and more and more have come up as I have thought these things through. Basically, anything that my happiness hinges on, anything I would not be willing to give up, anything that gets in my way of joyful, thankful obedience is an idol. Ouch.
So, I have a challenge. What if, during Lent, instead of giving up something meaningless (like meat of Fridays), we gave up an idol?
How? Well, whatever the idol, when we find ourselves focusing, obsessing, working on that idol, what if we stopped, prayed instead. What if, for that period of time, we stopped actively seeking our idols and sought God instead.
What does this look like? It would be different for each of us. I am praying about what to do. I think I have an idea for me, and I may share it tomorrow or Wednesday. Lent begins on Wednesday, so I have a short time to make a rather large decision.
A few quick examples:
If your idol is "the perfect body," give up exercise for those few weeks. Spend that time in prayer. Put your scales away. When anxiety creeps in, PRAY. Make God your focus, not your body.
If dieting is your idol, stop for Lent. Just lent. You can readjust your eating afterwards. Spend that time in prayer instead of hyper-focused on every bite of food you eat, focus on God.
If another baby (or a first baby) is your idol, give it over to God. Stop trying so hard for just a few weeks. Every time you find yourself obsessing over nurseries on Pinterest, stop, pray instead. Maybe stay off Pinterest for Lent.
All of those things are "good" things -- taking care of your body, eating right, and having children. They're all good, right things. Here's the problem I have found. As church women, we often find ourselves turning "good" things into "acceptable idols." Because the appearance is good, then it must be fine, right? But the problem is -- anything can be an idol. Homeschooling, modesty, submission, being gentle and quiet. Anything that we focus on rather than God.
Why not give up one big idol for Lent? You may find you don't need it after all. I have found freedom as I have released two biggies to God in the last couple of months. Do I still find myself thinking about these things, do I still pray that God would allow them to happen? Yes. But they are no longer obsessions. They no longer have the power over my thinking. I no longer wonder if God loves me because He hasn't allowed ________________ and ____________________ happen.
In the upcoming days, I will be sharing my plan. But I must be careful not to turn this "turning away from an idol" into an idol itself. If I do this, it will only be by the power of God in me. It will only be by the Holy Spirit working that I will be successful in turning away from an idol, not making a new one of this project, and truly worshiping God.
Will you join me? If you're reading this, will you join me? The Lent season is only a few weeks long. Will you trust God to show you your idol and to work in you to change that?
I plan to post daily during this time (at least Monday through Friday). I may fail, but I hope that even if my record isn't perfect, that there will be lifelong changes, lifelong lessons to learn during this time.
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