So, in the comments, I'd appreciate it if someone let me know who said this.
The heart is an idol factory. - S.M. artdude.
Was it TIm Keller? Driscoll? Phil or Mark?
I've been wrestling with the idols in my heart. (as we all should and if you don't, I'd like to introduce you to my friend Jesus) I struggled with this one issue that I thought was THE issue in my life. Once I peeled that away, it wasn't done. Turns out, my heart is a stinky little onion with layers upon layers of idols just waiting to dethrone the previous king of my heart. you know what? These little buggers are sneaky. We know about major idols like money, sex, material things, health, body image, and food. You know what's been wrecking my mindset lately? Church makes a really sneaky idol. Now I'm not talking about the bride of Christ, church universal. I'm talking about (at least for this post) the western, americanized religious institution that puts up buildings all over the country. They look very similar in this country, I know. But for now, i'm just talking about...let's give it a new name...McChurch? Church Lite? Churchington? JesusLand? We'll see how this name plays out.
Churchington is built on the LIE in ministry. Jesus is a part of it, but not the source or main thing. The bible is talked about, but the Gospel is vague at best. This is the idol I'm trying to kill right now. The Asherah Pole, that snuck into my heart while I was busy chasing the food god. When I destroyed one idol, there was an effeminate, feather haired jesusish looking character to take its place on the throne of my heart. Churchington Mcjesusland. Let's go with that.
This idol looked and smelled like God just enough to deceive me in to drinking the kool-aid (which is what Satan is going for anyways). I start to spend all my time at this building doing stuff that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of the Kingdom of God. I exchange meaningful relationships with people for relationships with mac, pro-presenter, ableton live, pro-tools, and reason. I wish I could build a relationship with Logic, but I don't have the money (those are computer programs, by the way) I sacrificed the relationship with my kids and wife on the altar of Churchington Mcjesusland. I sacrificed my finances on the altar as well, spending the last of my money on cables and gear because my god didn't have the money to buy it. My heart bought in to the lie about Church. God wants me to earn His approval by working my tail off for no money at His church building that's empty 5 days out of the week. That's a sneaky lie. God does want me to work hard, but not at the cost of my family or my relationship with Him. To paraphrase the great theologian, Shane Barnard, God does not want my serving Him to replace my knowing Him. But that's a matter of the heart.
The heart is deceptive above all things, and beyond cure. Who can understand it? - Jeremiah 17:9
This little sentence comes in the middle of Jeremiah conveying the oft heard message of idolatry from God to His people. It's not God's statement, but Jeremiah's. It's as if Jeremiah is trying to justify why people turn from God and to the stuff He made as functional saviors.
"I, the LORD, search the heart and examine the mind..." Jeremiah 17:10a
God knows. He knows our hearts. He knows they are apt to believe the LIE. He knows that sin is engraved on the tablets of our hearts. He knows that unless there is a radical transformation, we will let our wicked hearts guide us to eternal destruction.
But God demonstrated His own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ came and died for us.
Here's how I know God loves me. He bought my sin debt like a collector that doesn't make annoying phone calls. Then He put His Spirit in me. THEN, when I still run away from Christ to these idols, He disciplines me. He will lead me to the wilderness and teach me that He is everything I need. He will use the wilderness to remove the idols from my heart. He will call me His child, and I will call Him my God. (Hosea 2)
I will take a spiritual machine gun to the idols I've made. I will let this desert place remove the names of these idols from my lips. His Spirit in me will destroy the idols little by little until that day I am complete, whole, and perfect in Him.
But the process of idol killing is arduous and LONG. I'm not a big fan of that part.
Merry Christmas.
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