“The human heart is a factory of idols...Everyone of us is, from his mother’s womb, expert in
inventing idols.” John Calvin
“An idol is not simply a statue of wood, stone, or metal; it is anything we love and pursue in place of God, and can also be referred to as a ‘false god’ or a ‘functional god.’ In biblical terms, an idol is something other than God that we set our hearts on ( Luke 12:29;1 Cor. 10:6), that motivates us (1 Cor. 4:5), that masters or rules us (Ps. 119:133), or that we serve (Matt. 6:24).” Ken Sande
Want an example of an idol that many in this culture bow down to and serve? Read Andree Seu's column entitled Be Somebody. She identifies what amounts to a powerful idol in many hearts. The idol of affirmation ... aka the idol of respect ... aka the idol of the desire to be in the "inner ring", as C.S. Lewis warned against in his Memorial Lecture at the University of London's King's College.
I thought Seu's peice was timely given my recent focus on the ministry of John Williams. He spent his life helping Polynesians destroy idols and turn to the one true God. We can learn much from his life, but first, we need to learn to recognize what idols look like in our culture.
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