First Place
God demands to be first in your life!
The book of 1 John closes with a simple warning. “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols (1 John 5:21). The New Living Translation says it this way, “Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts.”
The famous quote by Ricky Bobby, in the movie Talladega Nights comes to mind, “If you ain't first, you're last.” This may seem like a silly example from a silly movie, but the point stands. If God is not first in our hearts, then does he really have our hearts? David’s prayer in Psalm 86:11 says, “Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear [revere and prioritize] your name." When our hearts are divided, we open the door to idols taking prominence in our life.
What comes to mind when you think of an idol or Idolatry? Some may think of shrines and statues, religion or folklore, maybe mythology. For others it's often associated with things we like, prefer, or try to imitate. I recently heard someone say when debating about the greatest basketball player of all time, “Michael Jordan is my idol.” We often look to celebrities or politicians or wise sages as idols. We even normalized it in popular culture with a show called “American Idol.” Now many of us would argue, “this is innocent” and “we don’t really idolize or worship these things.” But are we sure?
According to the bible, an idol is anything more important to you than God. It’s anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to get what only God can give. When “things” take God’s place in our lives, we are guilty of idolatry. While ancient idols were often physical objects or deities, modern idols can be more abstract, including wealth, power, fame, technology, or even personal relationships.
God created every human with a built-in worship center called the heart. And that’s a good thing because when we worship the right object, our heart comes alive. But the problem is that we often don’t worship the right thing. We should worship God, but instead, we worship [esteem, value and prioritize] “other things,” which turn into idols. This is why all throughout the bible there are strong warnings against idol worship.
In fact, the very first commandment (Exodus 20) says, “you shall have no other Gods before me.” God is very aware that our hearts wander and we allow things to compete with His affection. It’s Satan’s greatest subtle tool to draw us away from God.
Timothy Keller said, “the human heart is an idol factory that takes good things like a successful career, love, material possessions, even family, and turns them into ultimate things. Our hearts deify them as the center of our lives, because, we think, they can give us significance and security, safety and fulfillment, if we attain them.”
According to Keller, idolatry starts in our hearts. The bible says in Jeremiah 17:9, “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” This is why Solomon said, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Prov. 4:23)
So, let’s do a heart check today. If Idols can be dangerous and take God’s place in our lives, how do we identify them? Here is one way to check. Take a moment and answer the following questions with the first thing that comes to your mind. Don’t overthink it. Just respond with the first thing that jumps into your mind. This is crucial because your default answer often reveals your true heart posture.
Ask yourself the following 10 questions:
· “More than anything, I want ____”
· “I need ____”
· “I fear ____”
· “I love ____”
· “I’m seeking ____”
· “I’m trusting ____”
· “I’m taking refuge in ____”
· “My security comes from ____”
· “I can’t live without ____”
· “My life is over if ____”
Whatever fills in those blanks that isn’t found in Jesus may be an idol.
The danger with idols is not only that they take God’s first place in our lives, but they become our identity. If our idol is work, we lose ourselves in our job. if our idol is entertainment, we become hedonistic. When our idol is money, we become materialistic. When our idol is relationships, we become codependent.
Psalm 115:4-8 exposes the folly of idols worship. It concludes in verse 8 saying, “Those who make them [idols] will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.”
This is why idolatry is so dangerous, because it mars our identity. We were made in the image of God, to be like him, and idols make us like them instead. Therefore, it is crucial to be aware of what we pursue and prioritize because it will dictate what we become. This is why a frequent heart-check is so important.
How can you make God first today? Here’s the answer, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7). Our way out of idolatry and into fullness with Christ is actually pretty simple. First, we confess and acknowledge areas of our lives in which we have allowed idols to creep in. Second, we turn from those things as a source of ultimate satisfaction and ask Jesus to help us replace our idols with Him—the only true source of satisfaction.
This is how we walk in the light. The more we walk in the light, the more idols lose their power over us!
The book of 1 John closes with a simple warning. “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols (1 John 5:21). The New Living Translation says it this way, “Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts.”
The famous quote by Ricky Bobby, in the movie Talladega Nights comes to mind, “If you ain't first, you're last.” This may seem like a silly example from a silly movie, but the point stands. If God is not first in our hearts, then does he really have our hearts? David’s prayer in Psalm 86:11 says, “Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear [revere and prioritize] your name." When our hearts are divided, we open the door to idols taking prominence in our life.
What comes to mind when you think of an idol or Idolatry? Some may think of shrines and statues, religion or folklore, maybe mythology. For others it's often associated with things we like, prefer, or try to imitate. I recently heard someone say when debating about the greatest basketball player of all time, “Michael Jordan is my idol.” We often look to celebrities or politicians or wise sages as idols. We even normalized it in popular culture with a show called “American Idol.” Now many of us would argue, “this is innocent” and “we don’t really idolize or worship these things.” But are we sure?
According to the bible, an idol is anything more important to you than God. It’s anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to get what only God can give. When “things” take God’s place in our lives, we are guilty of idolatry. While ancient idols were often physical objects or deities, modern idols can be more abstract, including wealth, power, fame, technology, or even personal relationships.
God created every human with a built-in worship center called the heart. And that’s a good thing because when we worship the right object, our heart comes alive. But the problem is that we often don’t worship the right thing. We should worship God, but instead, we worship [esteem, value and prioritize] “other things,” which turn into idols. This is why all throughout the bible there are strong warnings against idol worship.
In fact, the very first commandment (Exodus 20) says, “you shall have no other Gods before me.” God is very aware that our hearts wander and we allow things to compete with His affection. It’s Satan’s greatest subtle tool to draw us away from God.
Timothy Keller said, “the human heart is an idol factory that takes good things like a successful career, love, material possessions, even family, and turns them into ultimate things. Our hearts deify them as the center of our lives, because, we think, they can give us significance and security, safety and fulfillment, if we attain them.”
According to Keller, idolatry starts in our hearts. The bible says in Jeremiah 17:9, “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” This is why Solomon said, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Prov. 4:23)
So, let’s do a heart check today. If Idols can be dangerous and take God’s place in our lives, how do we identify them? Here is one way to check. Take a moment and answer the following questions with the first thing that comes to your mind. Don’t overthink it. Just respond with the first thing that jumps into your mind. This is crucial because your default answer often reveals your true heart posture.
Ask yourself the following 10 questions:
· “More than anything, I want ____”
· “I need ____”
· “I fear ____”
· “I love ____”
· “I’m seeking ____”
· “I’m trusting ____”
· “I’m taking refuge in ____”
· “My security comes from ____”
· “I can’t live without ____”
· “My life is over if ____”
Whatever fills in those blanks that isn’t found in Jesus may be an idol.
The danger with idols is not only that they take God’s first place in our lives, but they become our identity. If our idol is work, we lose ourselves in our job. if our idol is entertainment, we become hedonistic. When our idol is money, we become materialistic. When our idol is relationships, we become codependent.
Psalm 115:4-8 exposes the folly of idols worship. It concludes in verse 8 saying, “Those who make them [idols] will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.”
This is why idolatry is so dangerous, because it mars our identity. We were made in the image of God, to be like him, and idols make us like them instead. Therefore, it is crucial to be aware of what we pursue and prioritize because it will dictate what we become. This is why a frequent heart-check is so important.
How can you make God first today? Here’s the answer, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7). Our way out of idolatry and into fullness with Christ is actually pretty simple. First, we confess and acknowledge areas of our lives in which we have allowed idols to creep in. Second, we turn from those things as a source of ultimate satisfaction and ask Jesus to help us replace our idols with Him—the only true source of satisfaction.
This is how we walk in the light. The more we walk in the light, the more idols lose their power over us!
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3 Comments
Thank you for these mid week teaching letters. They are really great.
Thanks P.A.!!!
Love these! I so appreciate the time and effort you put in for us so that we can be better