Idols...in this day and age?!

Yes, we can be prone to having idols in our lives and have the potential of putting them before God and His desires for us. I first came to this awareness that it's not just a problem from Old Testament times when JD Greear gave a sermon in Poland a few years ago. Whoa! I became convicted and continue to struggle with the idol of the fear of man over the fear of God.

'You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.' (Exodus 20:3-6 ESV)
'The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.' (Psalm 135:15, 18 ESV)

So, I was trusting in what others (especially my family!) thought of me rather than what God thought of me. It continues to be a battle; yet, God is a jealous God and wants my full and complete trust and love! He has given me so many verses from His Word to help me combat the lies of the enemy and satan's influence in the world that we live in.

The following article was shown to me by a colleague and it clearly identifies my struggle: 'Idols of the Heart and "Vanity Fair"' by David Powlison
"Behaviorists speak of “drives” and tend to “lower” the focus to the ways we are most similar to animals. Humanists and existentialists, on the other hand, speak of “needs” and tend to “raise” the focus to uniquely human social and existential goals. But the same critique applies. When a “need for security” propels my life or a segment of my life, I am again engaging in religious behavior. Rather than serving the true God, the god I serve is the approval and respect of people, either myself or others. I am an idolater. I am not “motivated by a need for security.” I am “motivated by a lust for security rather than ruled by God.” Or, since desire and fear are complementary perspectives on human motivation, “I fear man” instead of “I fear and trust God.” Need theories, like drive theories, can never comprehend the “rather than God,” which is always built into the issue of human motivation. They can never comprehend the fundamental idolatry issue, which sees that the things which typically drive us really exist as inordinate desires of the flesh that are direct alternatives to submitting to the desires of the Spirit.

Our lusts for security, of course, are tutored as well as spontaneous. “Vanity Fair” operates as effectively here as it does with our hunger. Powerful and persuasive people woo and intimidate us that we might trust or fear them. In convicting us of our false trusts and acknowledging the potency of the pressures on us, the Scriptures again offer us the liberating alternative of knowing the Lord."

'I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.' (Psalm 138:2 ESV)

I'm thankful that He is a jealous God and vies for ALL of my love and attention!