Saying "No" To Our Idols

When we hear of idols, our minds might first be drawn to images of religious statues or paintings in which people foolishly place ultimate significance. When Paul speaks of being in despair over the idols that he sees in Athens (Acts 17), it is easy to envision idols that are safely out of our realm: large representations of Athena and the other Greek gods and goddesses. These idols we can deal with—they belong to others, and therefore we can look at them with a mix of superiority and disdain, and say they should have known better. However, idols can be deceptive.

I wonder, though, if Paul were to travel among us today, what idols would he find?  Perhaps they would not be large religious statues, but large buildings. Maybe they would be our need to place ultimate worth in things like money, jobs, homes and cars.  Maybe our idols are our need for control through “bubble-like” existences where people look like us, talk like us, and believe like us?  Maybe our idols are found in the need to be the most popular, the most attractive, the most athletic, and the most accomplished?  Maybe our idol is the self-image we accept because that is what is safe and familiar, even if it is not who we truly are but what others expect of us?  Anyone serious about the spiritual life must wrestle with such questions!

The great Christian writer and monk, Thomas Merton, once said, “there is a radical refusal demanded of me somewhere …”  What Merton is saying is that we must begin saying no to our idols, one at a time, as we come alive to God, and as we do we will discover what it means to truly live. Our idols draw us in. We live to protect them for fear of losing ourselves, our identity.  However, the radical truth of Jesus is that those who try to preserve their lives will lose them, but those who lose their lives will find them (Luke 17:33).

What are the idols in your life that you need to begin saying no to? What is the radical refusal demanded of you? These are not questions about guilt or blame; rather, they are the pathways to new life.

Together we are the Hands and Feet of Christ!

Brett