Our discussion was based on the topic of how an idol is a lie. Isaiah was very descriptive about the deception of the idol maker and detailed on how the created is worshipping the created.
Since idol worshipping seems very old testament and part of other religions, we can often pass over these truths as irrelevant. So we spent time making a definition of an idol. This summary from Tim Keller covered all the points from our discussion:
“It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. A counterfeit god is anything so central and essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living. An idol has such a controlling position in your heart that you can spend most of your passion and energy, your emotional and financial resources, on it without a second thought. It can be family and children, or career and making money, or achievement and critical acclaim, or saving “face” and social standing. It can be a romantic relationship, peer approval, competence and skill, secure and comfortable circumstances, your beauty or your brains, a great political or social cause, your morality and virtue, or even success in the Christian ministry.
My challenge to you this week is to spent time in solitude and stillness while asking God to help you identify the idols you have placed in your life. Then discuss your idols with your spouse and with your life group as we go through this together.
Be intentional.
Travis
