Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. Woe to him who says to wood, “Come to life!” Or to a lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it. But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.” Habakkuk 2: 18-20
The last few weeks brought our nation to a sudden stop in many regards. Schools closed, work schedules were adjusted, travel plans cancelled and life in general altered. I watched as our packed family calendar dwindled to empty space on every day. Line item by line item scratched off. Indefinitely.
In these strange times, many of us have taken a closer look at our schedules and what makes up the space in our daily lives. As we’ve been forced to peel away much of what normally keeps us striving, driving, planning, and feverishly balancing, some revelation has occurred. What are we truly missing and what needs to remain absent when life resumes as we knew it before?
We’ve recently been talking to our youngest son about idols. In Bible stories, idols are tangible and often scultpures. It’s easy to wrap our minds around the sinfulness of creating and worshiping a statue that is not our God. But what about the idols unseen? What about those created, not with wood or metal, but in our minds and on our calendars?
An idol is ultimately anything we love more than God.
For those of us who feel our faith is strong, we may be quick to say there is absolutely nothing we idolize.
No way is there anything more important to me than God!
But if we look closely, would we be able to say that with confidence? Because chasing the almighty dollar can become an idol. As can striving to keep our kids in every activity, training camp and production available. What about our homes? Are we so focused on having a picture perfect, Pinterest worthy existence that we’ve shifted our focus from our Creator to perfectionism inside our four walls?
Anything we love more than God………
Our children can becomes examples of idols. Our spouse, careers, hobbies, homes, and ironically our churches. Even really good, wonderful blessings can become idols if they become more important to us than God. Even in the midst of a stripped down schedule, we are able to make idols of things and people. But the Lord our God is the only one worthy of our worship.
Challenge- In looking over your old schedule, do you see any ‘things’ that had taken up unhealthy space or possibly become an idol? Write down how you will change your focus when the time comes for our calendars to start filling up again. What shifts need to take place to make sure our hearts are set on worshiping only the One worthy of our praise.
Lord, You are on your throne and You alone are worthy of our worship. Help us not to focus on, give our attention to our love anything more than we love you. Please give us the ability to look over our schedule and our priorities with a discerning eye so You are always the only focus of our worship.