Part of our training this past summer at the Center for Intercultural Training (CIT) was a daily study called Heart of the Missionary through which we examined some core issues that are critical to personal discipleship and growth. One such topic was Idolatry. At first glance, I was tempted to brush this aside, thinking that I didn’t have any idols in my life. I mean wasn’t I now living the life of a missionary, someone who gave up friends and family to follow God’s call to a different land?! If I only viewed idolatry through the Old Testament definition listed in the 10 Commandments, I could easily dismiss it:

³ “You shall have no other gods before me. ⁴ “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God”… –Exodus 20:3-5

I didn’t have any carved images or statues sitting in a place of honor in my home that I bowed down to in worship. In fact, I had just gone through months of surrendering everything I held dear (house, family, friends, job, etc.) to obey God’s call…or had I?!

I began to search my heart when I read the definition of an idol as “something within creation that is inflated to function as a substitute for God…suggesting that the idol will fulfill the promises for the good life,” and that “an idol can be a physical object, a property, a person, an activity, a role, an institution, a hope, an image, an idea, a pleasure, a hero…” –Richard Keyes, “The Idol Factory” in No God but God.

Do I look to anything other than God for “life-sustaining stability, security and acceptance? What do [I] really want and expect out of life? What would really make [me] happy? Where do [I] look for power and success? These questions or similar ones tease out whether we serve God or idols, whether we look for salvation from Christ or from false saviors.” (David Powlison, Idols of the Heart and Vanity Fair)

As part of our study, we were given an exercise to complete to help us identify any idols that may be in the shadows of our heart. We had to think in terms of: God + ____ = significance/happiness and mark the ones we felt we struggled with the most. The list included idols such as Achievement, Approval, Comfort/Entertainment, Control, Dependence, Family, Group, Helping, Ideology, Image, Independence, Knowledge, Materialism, Religion, Suffering, Technology, Work, etc.

In working through this list, I had to make the honest confession to myself and God that I was prone to several of them and a few were deeply rooted. I came to the understanding that I had only dealt with the surface issue of surrendering ‘items’ I held dear but had failed to deal with the root idol that drove my behavior, thoughts and feelings. On the outside I was being obedient to God’s request but deep down on the inside I was struggling with rebellion that came from the idols of comfort and control. It was being revealed through a physical response of overeating on sweets or escaping through books and television whenever I felt overwhelmed or that things were out of my control. I had been trying unsuccessfully to deal with these responses through mere will-power. Instead of addressing my behavior, I needed to dig below the surface to uncover the core issue (idol) and root it out through the application of God’s Word and the acceptance of His grace and forgiveness.

I have not found complete freedom from these idols in my life yet, but the pressure of doing it in my own strength has been lifted, and I am encouraged that through the power of the Holy Spirit, each day will bring more trust in God and less reliance on myself.

⁶ For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. –Philippians 1:6