Idols of the Heart

I shared some on Sunday about Idols of the heart. I just touched the tip of the iceberg. I am indebted to Darrin Patrick for this material. Here is some stuff to think about.

An idol is something I serve instead of God - anything other than God that I put in the place of God - it can be anything - a relationship, image, role, political party, aspiration, hope, pleasure, a church...

We put our hope in idols - we draw comfort from them - we look to them for meaning.

We will either look to God or we will look to something else to find security and significance.

Most of the time, we are clueless about our idols (but we see others' clearly).

Here is how you know your idols the fastest…we know our idols when they are disturbed or threatened. Other good questions to ID the idols in your life:

• What do you worry about most?
• What, if I lost it, would make me not want to live?
• What are my release valves?
• What do I do to feel better?
• Where does my mind go when it's free?
• What do I daydream about?
• What makes me feel the most self worth?
• What do I want to be known for?
• What do I lead into conversations with?
• What do I talk with new people about?
• What prayer, if unanswered, would make me think about turning away from God?
• What is my hope for the future?

These are some things to think about. Here is what you can count on. You have some idols!! We all do! What are yours? How can you work toward replacing them with Jesus?