“Idols will always break our hearts.” I shared this statement recently in a message, and it certainly resonated with me and seemed to stick with those who heard it. An idol is anything we look to or count on for what only God can ultimately give us.
You and I were made to experience joy, happiness, contentment and peace. We were created to know that we have significance and that there is meaning and purpose to our lives. We have a deep desire to be known and feel secure. Ultimately, only God can satisfy these desires and meet these needs.
When you and I look to anything other than God to meet these needs, we commit idolatry, and the human soul breaks down. C.S. Lewis explains the situation like this:
“God made us: Invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there.”
When we look around the world today, we see people everywhere with broken hearts who are trying to find happiness, peace and security from a person, a drug, sex, more money, their next purchase, a political party, or a promotion. It never works. These things will never satisfy the desires and needs of the human soul. Only God can do that. Solomon wrote long ago, “…human desire is never satisfied.”
Idols will always break our hearts. They will fail to deliver on their promise. In the end we will be left with pain, confusion, disappointment, and regret. King David put it like this in Psalm 16:4, “Troubles multiply for those who chase after other gods.” To protect us from the pain of idolatry, God says in the first of the ten commandments, “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) This is a commandment to worship Him alone and to look to and count on God for happiness, peace, contentment, significance, purpose and meaning.
When we worship God as God, the idols of our lives get pushed out. Slowly but surely, as our lives are reorganized around God and His ways, our souls are healed. David famously wrote in Psalm 23:3, “…He restores my soul.” The complete restoration and reordering of our inner being begins and ends with worshipping God as God. It is here, in adoration and love of God, that we find everything we were created for–joy, happiness, satisfaction, significance, and security. No wonder David said, “My soul is satisfied as with the richest of foods; with joyful lips my mouth will praise You.” (Psalm 63:5)
What have you been looking to or counting on for what only God can give you? Are you ready to turn from it?
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