“There are more idols in the world than there are realities.” - Friedrich Nietzsche...the human heart 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.
...an idol is something we cannot live without. We must have it, and therefore it drives us to break rules we once honored, to harm others and even ourselves in order to get it. Idols are spiritual addictions that lead to terrible evil...
...The bad news is that we are so fixated on the problem of greed, which we tend to see in “those rich people over there,” that we don’t realize the most fundamental truth. Anything can be an idol, and everything has been an idol...
...We think that idols are bad things, but that is almost never the case. The greater the good, the more likely we are to expect that it can satisfy our deepest needs and hopes. Anything can serve as a counterfeit god, especially the very best things in life...
...What is an idol? 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...
...Whatever controls us is our lord. The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people he or she wants to please. We do not control ourselves. We are controlled by the lord of our lives...
...What many people call “psychological problems” are simple issues of idolatry. Perfectionism, workaholism, chronic indecisiveness, the need to control the lives of others- all of these stem from making good things into idols that then drive us into the ground as we try to appease them. Idols dominate our lives...
...The way forward, out of despair, is to discern he idols of our hearts and our culture. But that will not be enough. The only way to free ourselves from the destructive influence of counterfeit gods is to turn back to the true one. The living God, who revealed himself both at Mount Sinai and on the Cross, is the only Lord who...can truly fulfill you, and, if you fail him, can truly forgive you...
...Because I have God, I can live without you...sometimes God seems to be killing us when he’s actually saving us...
...To practice idolatry is to be a slave...
..We become like what we worship...
...If we are saved by grace alone, how can we feel superior to anyone?...
...And so it is under stress, in real life experience, that the true nature of our hearts is revealed. For example, all Christians say and believe that Chris is their Savior, not their career or their wealth. What Christ thinks of us is what matters, not human approval. That is what we say. But while Jesus is our Savior in principle, other things still maintain functional title to our hearts. Jonah shows us that it is one thing to believe the gospel with our minds, and another to work it deep into our hearts so it affects everything we think, feel, and do. He is still being largely controlled by idolatry...
...Rejoicing and repentance must go together. Repentance without rejoicing will lead to despair. Rejoicing without repentance is shallow and will only provide passing inspiration instead of deep change...
