E84 - Hope’s Harbor Gritty Bible Devotions - Idols of the Heart
Hope’s Harbor
Gritty Bible Devotions
Episode #84
Title: Idols of the Heart
Date: December 12, 2022
Contact: info@hopesharbor.net
Key verse(s): 1st Thessalonians 1:9 & 10 / 1st John 5:21
1st Thessalonians 1:9 – ‘…and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
Verse 10 – ‘and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.’
1st John 5:21 – ‘…keep yourselves from idols. Amen.’
Idol in the New Testament means either what is sacrificed for an idol, or the act of worship of an idol. In other words, it’s what we give to have the idol and how we protect it.
Intro: Idols in our hearts do one main thing to us: They end up putting us in and keeping us in bondage.
For our purpose in this devotion, we’ll focus on what we give up to have an object of desire to the point it becomes an idol, and how we worship that object by the place it holds in our hearts and the power it has over us.
3 things come to mind as idols in our day and age: People – Places – and Things.
Keep in mind, however, these 3 – people – places – and things, are okay to have in our lives and enjoy. The issue is when any or all of them have us in bondage.
Devotion focus: How to recognize an idol in our hearts –
Not only should we recognize an idol but also recognize the unhealthy hold over us.
The 1st idol: People. David is not a people person, per se; he’s an introvert, so this isn’t as much of an issue with him. What can become an issue for even introverted people is becoming dependent on any relationship to the point it becomes unhealthy.
The psychological term for this is codependency. When we derive our sole sense of purpose for living, from another person, this is unhealthy and unfulfilling.
It is also toxic.
A relationship that becomes an idol is one by which we worship and sacrifice far beyond healthy boundaries. We become enmeshed in the other person and don’t know where we end and they begin. It becomes suffocating and there is little freedom found within such a relationship.
Whether the person who is the object of our worship knows it or not, they are controlling us. We are then in bondage to the relationship.
And then if we sacrifice ourselves to keep that person from leaving us, this is also bondage.
The 2nd idol: Places. David likes places such as a cabin in the mountains or a cottage by the sea. Before GOD recently revealed to him the truth about idols in his life, David spent hours and hours on Zillow, looking at remote places for sale. His focus on escaping to some quiet picturesque location after I retire became an idol.
With time he began to ask himself, “Okay, if I buy this cabin, then what?” or “Would I actually want to live in so remote a place and drive for an hour just to eat out?” He noticed so many places for sale in areas he searched and wondered why would all these people want to sell and get out.
He finally figured out, at least the possibility; they bought what promised to give peace and quiet in a beautiful setting and discovered something else: even though beautiful and peaceful, it became just another place. One requiring maintenance, payment of taxes, and work to keep it all up. In fact, living in a remote place, even a small town, did it become boring with limited choices?
This isn’t to say it’s like this with everyone, but one glance at a Zillow map of real estate for sale in popular places like resort towns reveals paradise isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Here’s the financial difficulty with this idol people find themselves in, after sacrificing to buy a place, and then they discover owning it becomes a drain on time and resources. When they try to sell it along with all the other people trying to sell vacation property, the payments continue. The taxes continue. And if they are unfortunate enough to have homeowner association fees, those continue too. You can imagine the stress this brings on and the control this place exerts over the owners. It ends up owning them. Again, it’s bondage.
3rd idol: Things. Whether grownup toys or expensive vehicles or the latest in electronics. Again, nothing wrong with having things, as long as they don’t have us. What does this mean? It goes back to finances.
Consumer debt in America is at an all-time high. The question is: what are we buying so much of? Overpriced real estate, overpriced luxury items for our vehicles (think heated/air conditioned seats – custom wheels, etc.)
Here’s one online source – the link is in the show notes:
Average car price is at an all-time high of $47,000
https://www.thezebra.com › Resource Center › Driving
The average car price in the U.S. continued to rise in 2021 to $47000
For a time people were paying over one hundred thousand dollars for pickup trucks. That’s right, $100,000. For a pickup truck. Here’s one listing, the link is in the show notes:
The 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R Will Start at $109,145
All those upgrades are going to cost you, however, because Ford has priced the Raptor R from $109,145. Jul 18, 2022
These are just a couple of examples without going into houses as our main residence, boats, motorcycles, and so on.
The bottom line of the idols mentioned is the hours at work it takes to make payments and maintain these things. We end up striving for better-paying jobs to make ends meet and many times take a job we don’t like, just because it pays more. The excuse is “I have to make the house payment, the car/truck payment, and the credit card minimum. You know how it is. So I have to work more.”
All the while our family suffers from our absence. Where’s Daddy? He’s at work. Where’s Mom? She had to work late. Want to see where this can lead?
Go to YouTube and search for ‘Cats in the Cradle.” Listen to this song carefully. It saved David from overworking for the most part. Even then, he got caught up in paying for his Harley and working too many hours. Hours away from home.
Summary: Idols are subtle. We hardly recognize them for what they are and the harm they’re causing us when it comes to family time or friends being together. This is largely due to the buying culture that has lured us to sleep, with the promise of just one more thing, and then we’ll be happy.
But will it really?
Actions to consider:
1. View the list of common signs of codependency contained in the show notes appendix at HopesHarbor.net
2. Look at the Zillow map of real estate for sale at the link in the show notes:
3. Also, read the online article excerpt concerning how most Americans are more indebted than ever, This link is also in the show notes:
Most Americans are more indebted than ever, underscoring a persistent and widening wealth divide in the US. Consumer debt, including credit cards, rose to an all-time high for the 118 million US households among the bottom 90%, according to the Federal Reserve's latest data on the distribution of household wealth. The group’s debt soared by $300 billion over the last year -- the largest annual gain on record -- as households deal with higher prices for everything from food to clothing and rents. Sep 26, 2022
Next week’s devotion: Legalism and how deadly it can Be
Appendix: Common signs of codependency include:
· A deep-seated need for approval from others
· Self-worth that depends on what others think about you
· A habit of taking on more work than you can realistically handle, both to earn praise or lighten a loved one’s burden
· A tendency to apologize or take on blame in order to keep the peace
· A pattern of avoiding conflict
· A tendency to minimize or ignore your own desires
· Excessive concern about a loved one’s habits or behaviors
· A habit of making decisions for others or trying to “manage” loved ones
· A mood that reflects how others feel, rather than your own emotions
· Guilt or anxiety when doing something for yourself
· Doing things you don’t really want to do, simply to make others happy
· Idealizing partners or other loved ones, often to the point of maintaining relationships that leave you unfulfilled
· Overwhelming fears of rejection or abandonment
With codependency, the need to support others goes beyond what’s generally considered healthy.
If you behave in codependent ways, you don’t just offer support temporarily, such as when a loved one faces a setback. Instead, you tend to focus on caretaking and caring for others to the point that you begin to define yourself in relation to their needs.