Identify Idols in Your Heart Quickly
Identify idols in your heart today because if you’re like me you’ve put it off long enough! Idols eat away at us spiritually because they push out God and usher in sin.
At times, I hold something or someone closer to my heart than God. And when I’m honest with myself, those things or people don’t feel right or good. I’m not at my best because God isn’t first.
Eventually, idols teach us not to trust them. They fail us time and again because we grope for anything to hold on to instead of God. You probably have an inkling of what idols you hold above God’s importance.
If not, find out how to spot them.
How to Identify Idols in Your Heart
Some Christians don’t see the need to identify or remove heart idols. After all, they don’t bow down to other gods. But is that a true or false assumption? If there’s a person or thing in your life more important than the God of heaven, you bow to them regularly. Ouch.
How about your smartphone or big-screen TV? Do they get your attention all day long? Or maybe you can’t stay off the internet because you browse your social media accounts non-stop.
Idols commonly bring out strong emotions like fear and sadness when they disappear from your life like money or a house. If you worshipped those idols, you instantly feel insecure and anguish when they’re gone. If you don’t know where to turn next for comfort, then idols are your god.
What is an idol of the heart? Use these questions to identify them and prayerfully consider your answers.
- What do you TAKE into your heart, dwell on, and idolize? Types of idols could include a habit like taking selfies or an attitude that discounts God in your life. It’s that thing or a person you love more than God.
- Take a mental inventory of how you spend your days. How is God involved in your activities or is He? What do you run to instead of Him – shopping sites, cosmetics, or something else? What is most threatening to your sense of well-being—for example, what controls your thoughts putting you in panic mode?
- Do you believe there’s something in your life you couldn’t live without? What trips you up again and again causing you to feel sorry for yourself (that could be an idol)?
If idols are a problem, what can you do?
Let Scripture Help You Identify Idols In Your Heart
Scripture is called the Living Word for a reason—it’s alive. You sense this when the Holy Spirit who lives inside you acknowledges its truth. God’s Word is full of seeds God uses to prosper us. So, let the following scriptures tell you how to remove idols from your heart (they usually lodge deep there).
Ezekiel 14:1-3 (MSG)
Some of the leaders of Israel approached me and sat down with me. God’s Message came to me: “Son of Man, these people have installed idols in their hearts. They have embraced the wickedness that will ruin them.
Colossians 3:5 (AMP
So put to death and deprive of power the evil longings of your earthly body [with its sensual, self-centered instincts] immorality, impurity, sinful passion, evil desire, and greed, which is [a kind of] idolatry [because it replaces your devotion to God].
Exodus 20:3-6
You shall have no other gods before Me.“You shall not make for yourself any idol or any likeness (form, manifestation) of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth [as an object to worship]. Neither, shall you worship them nor serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous (impassioned) God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely mine], visiting (avenging) the iniquity (sin, guilt) of the fathers on the children [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers], to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing graciousness and steadfast lovingkindness to thousands [of generations] of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
Psalm 135:15-18
The idols of the nations are silver and gold, The work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; eyes, but they do not see; ears, but they do not hear, Nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make idols are like them [absolutely worthless—spiritually blind, deaf, and powerless]; So is everyone who trusts in and relies on them.
Concluding Thoughts to Identify Idols in Your Heart
We decide to embrace idols and give them life. Notice in the above scriptures that idols are evil and eventually wreck our lives.
To be free from idols you make a decision to be satisfied with God no matter what. You place Him at the top of your priority list. And, you refuse to cling to anything or anyone else other than God. Bang your head against your idols long enough and it becomes a no-brainer! Should you see a golden calf somewhere let it remind you that the one true God shines brighter and He’s real.
God is clear about idolatry. Holding idols up higher than Him leads us into trouble. He doesn’t want you and me to take idols into our hearts because those things won’t sustain us. He will.
Moreover, it’s very easy to slide over into sin when what’s in our hearts is bigger than Him. That doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy our family and the things we love. God wants us to.
One other thought from my experience as a Christian.
Don’t allow Satan to convince you that you simply focus on the wrong things and have zero idols in your life. He whispers lies to keep you bound spiritually so you turn away from your Creator.
Get quiet before God and let Him reveal what you place ahead of Him. It’s that thing you’re excited about and delights your heart the most.