Good Idolatry ?

No !! Idolatry is NOT good.

The entire Bible speaks very directly about idolatry which is not just bowing to carved images as in the Old Testament, but also anything that overtakes God’s rightful place in our heart. God wants to be first in our hearts. First !!

Idolatry today is often more subtle than golden calves, but the principle is the same. Idolatry is anything that steals love, trust, devotion or obedience from God. These can become an idol.

Let me give you 10 modern-day examples of idolatry, each linked with a relevant scripture:

1. Greed, Money & Wealth – (Matthew 6:24 KJV) “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” ; (1 Timothy 6:10) “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” – When money rules our heart and decisions, it becomes a false god, an idol called “mammon”.

2. Ambition, Career & Success – (Mark 8:36 KJV) “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” ; (Matthew 6:33) But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. – Success pursued at the cost of godliness becomes idolatry.

3. Entertainment & Celebrities – (1 John 5:21 KJV) “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” – Admiration can cross into worship when people in our life are inappropriately elevated or worshipped above God.

4. Technology & Social Media – (Exodus 20:3 KJV) “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” – Electronic devices can consume time, attention, and affection meant for God.

5. Sexual Pleasure, Perversion & Lust – (Colossians 3:5 KJV) “covetousness, which is idolatry.” – Lust and unrestrained desire for anything (money, possessions, inappropriate relationships, etc) can be counted as forms of idolatry.

6. Selfishness, Self & Personal Ego – (2 Timothy 3:2 KJV) “For men shall be lovers of their own selves…” – Jealously, Vanity, Pride, Abuse, Anger and Self-worship dethrone God from our heart, and turn our own selfishness into an idol.

7. Food, Diet, Weight & Appetite – (Philippians 3:19 KJV) “…whose God is their belly…” – Overindulgence or gluttony can turn appetite, dieting and food into an idol.

8. Religion Without Obedience – (Mark 7:6 KJV) “This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” (John 4:24) “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth”. – Empty rituals or traditions without true devotion become dead idols.

9. Family or Inappropriate Relationships – (Matthew 10:37 KJV) “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” – Even good gifts like family can become idols if loved above Christ.

10. Comfort & Security – “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Colossians 3:2 KJV), (Matthew 25) Read the parable of the “talents” and read the last servant being described as “wicked and lazy”. – Seeking safety and ease more than God’s will is a form of idolatry.

Modern idols may not be carved statues, but they are just as real and just as “spiritually” deadly. Idolatry is anything that steals our first love, trust, focus or obedience away from God.

A Godly Response ?

Ask yourself what idols you might have in your life ?

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you clearly. Take MASSIVE action steps like repent, and dial that thing back in your life, starve it of time and resources, and maybe consider fasting from that thing. Talk to a friend and confess it, and it will lose its power then pray earnestly to repent of that thing.

Resist the devil and he WILL flee.