Unmasking Idols

As promised, I want to follow up on yesterday's Matthews teaching with some practical helps for dealing with our spiritual idols. This post will focus on unmasking idols and the next on replacing our idols.

To review, idols are anything - a person, thing, possession, or dream - that we put in place of God. Generally speaking, idols are a good thing, or at least a neutral thing, that we have allowed to become a most important thing. And, according to the Bible, idols are the number one spiritual problem we face...so the stakes are high.

Maybe the best question for unmasking our idols is "What's my worst nightmare? What is the one person or thing that if I were to lose it would make me lose my desire to live?"

Below, are some diagnostic questions to get at what might be your idol(s). Let me say in no uncertain terms that I am borrowing (stealing) heavily from the work of Tim Keller here...

Power idolatry: My greatest nightmare is losing influence over others.
Approval idolatry: My greatest nightmare is being rejected.
Comfort idolatry: My greatest nightmare is being stressed or having a sacrificial lifestyle.
Work idolatry: My greatest nightmare is losing my job or being unsuccessful or unproductive.
Image idolatry: My greatest nightmare is being overweight, ugly, unattractive.
Family idolatry: My greatest nightmare is that something goes wrong with my family.
Control idolatry: My greatest nightmare is losing mastery over life in this area...
Relationship idolatry: My greatest nightmare is this person not being in my life or not being happy with me.

This is a very brief list, but you get the idea! So, what's your idol?