Heart Idols

Thursday last we spent some time discussing "heart idols."  That is, the root sin behind the visible sins.  The example of a visible sin used in the lesson was gossip.  Yes, it is wrong, but why are you gossiping in the first place?  What do you crave or hope to gain by gossiping instead of looking to God?  As an exercise, we were asked to determine common surface sins and try to identify the heart idol behind them.  But then, rather than dwelling on the sin, we were to turn and glorify God for His ability to satisfy whatever desire we may have.  The paragraphs below are my "Thought Journal" for the week reflecting my mind as I try to figure out exactly how to complete the assignment.


I don’t quite know what to call my “heart idol.” Safety and security perhaps? Yet it seems as though we are asked to determine in what we find those. I’m not certain. Perhaps in rhythm? In structure? Or is it a form of control idolism? I can’t quite figure it out. Maybe I should go with calling it the idol of familiarity. When I’m troubled, I retreat to the familiar—my family, my room, my books. It is in those that I find my comfort I think. Sometimes, I turn to the Bible for comfort and assurance, but most often, I think I shove off my unease and retreat to another world where my problems don’t exist instead of taking them to the Solver of Problems.

For that is what God is. I know it in my head, but how do I act on it? How do I abandon my defenses against the world and watch Him take them over? God is unchanging. He is the most familiar of all—and yet, I think I have grown so very familiar with His presence that I discount it altogether. I need to be aware of His steadfastness and unchanging nature but also to be in awe of it. I am a fickle, change-full creature. He is unswerving and permanent.

The Idol Factory article [by C. J. Mahaney] was intriguing and challenging. I am amazed at how much there is about heart idolatry in the Bible. I have often thought myself “safe” from that particular sin most of the time. Now I see it is not so. The summary of Martin Luther’s quote in Article Six of GCL is particularly pressing to me. “[. . .] every sin is in some way a breaking of the first commandment [. . .]” (p. 40). If I sin—correction, when I sin—it is because I put something else before God. Something I wanted more than Him. I don’t quite know how to think about that yet. I’ve never tried before.

I was told at the beginning that this class would make me more aware of my sin than I’ve ever been. It has. I was also told it would make me more aware of God’s glory. It has that as well.