The Idols We Choose

“Is God Dead?”  It was one of the most iconic Time magazine covers in history, and its accompanying article outlined the efforts of a handful of academics in the mid 1960’s who were trying to establish a theology that did not include God.  Imagine the absurdity of a study of God that does not even recognize that He exists!  We have created a secular, naturalistic, humanistic world that no longer requires divine intervention.  Or so we think.  But the recent generations have only proved that God cannot be deleted, only replaced.  Human beings still need something bigger than ourselves to believe in.  We need to believe there is purpose in the universe.  We need a reason to love our neighbor and serve our community.  So we have not eliminated God, just replaced him with other concepts to worship.

Our modern gods are not found in images of gold or stone.  Instead of IDOLS, we worship IDEALS.  They are concepts like love, freedom, comfort, peace, unity, or happiness.  We talk about them constantly.  We wear their names on our T-shirts and we work tirelessly to glorify them in our world.  Like God, they are ethereal and invisible.  We can see their effects, but we can’t see them directly.  We can’t touch them with our hands, but we can feel their powerful presence in our lives.  And while we might have a vague idea of how to define these terms, it’s left up to the individual to determine what these ideals mean to us.  We will sacrifice our time and money and families and sanity to feel the power of these gods in our lives.  Our objective is to live in their constant presence; to always feel happy, or peaceful, or free.  But we find their touch elusive and temporary.   

As worshipers approach the Lord through Scripture and prayer and service, the modern secularist similarly approaches his gods through acts that he thinks will bring about the desired effect.  The Quaker writer and theologian Richard Foster identifies Money, Sex, and Power as the base desires that lead to grievous sin in our lives.  In this age of connectivity, I’d add our desire for Fame into the mix.  These four indulgences are the usual avenues we choose to experience the feelings we think will fulfill us. 

I’ve always said that if you want to worship a false god, Money is a powerful and gratifying idol to serve.  I can pray to the Lord for the things I want or need, but I am not guaranteed that He will give me what I ask for.  God has an annoying habit of only giving me what He knows is best, and only in the timing that He knows I need it.  That just won’t do for me.  Instead, I turn to my Money.  I don’t have to wait for Money to answer my prayer.  As long as I have enough of it, it will give me what I want every time.  And if I don’t have enough to get what I want, I just need to sacrifice more of my time, energy, or morality in order to get some more.

Sex, Power, and Fame operate in much the same way.  We pursue them and sacrifice for them, thinking they will provide freedom and happiness.  But they only leave us with broken relationships and empty lives.  Once we’ve finally attained them, we find that we are neither happier nor more fulfilled than we were before… maybe even less so.  How many celebrities have taken their own lives in recent years?  They attained all the things we spend life chasing: all the fame… all the wealth… the adoration of millions.  And the suicide notes all say the same things.  With all their successes, they still could not fill the void in their lives.  We never seem to learn from these stories, though.  We have it on good authority that no amount of these earthly things can satisfy, but we all stand in line to be the next poor soul to shoot ourselves with the bullet of sorrow.

If we cannot find the fulfillment we’re looking for in the ghostly and unattainable Ideals of the world, perhaps we should look someplace else.  The Christian looks to his Creator – the One True God – for purpose and fulfillment.  We find these things by submitting to our Master, honoring Him, obeying His commands, worshiping Him, and serving Him.  And when we have a living and growing relationship with God, we see that all these other Ideals are made manifest in our lives, too.  Jesus says in Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  The fruit of God’s presence in our lives through the Holy Spirit is the manifestation of true love, joy, peace, and more.  We exhaust ourselves seeking in the world what we can never truly obtain, while God offers it to us freely along with forgiveness, eternal life, and divine purpose.  We are fools to worship what is false when He who is real stands waiting for us.