I was listening to a talk by Tim Keller on "Removing Idols of the Heart" this week, and was devastatingly peirced by his definition of our idols. He roughly said "What thing, or person, that if you didn't have it, or lost it would cause you to think that life isn't worth living, and makes you want to kill yourself?. That's your idol".
This cut me to the core, how true it is! We may say with our lips that we only treasure Jesus, but in our materialistic, western culture, I'm not sure how many of us actually worship Jesus in 'spirit and in truth' all of our lives! Remember in my post on "Desiring God", I said that John Piper said that this is idolatry, to say to God that something satisfies you more than him.
Well, with this damning verdict on my (and probably your) life, how to break this spell? Well, Keller said that the only way to get rid of an idol is "with the expulsive power of a new idol". However we can't just replace the idol of say, power, with the idol of sex, or money. They too will disappoint us. No, we need the expulsive power of Jesus Christ in our hearts. To seek, and treasure him, and to know his love. I'm finding this true as I read more and more of the word of god, and ponder and meditate over it this week, it's starting to work! I'm delighting in that, and find that when I leave it to get on with the tasks of the day my heart still longs for it more! Praise God for that. However it's not easy, so we need God's help (ask him in prayer). Stay tuned for more on this, as I've recently got a copy of "Counterfeit Gods" by Keller!
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