August 27
August 27
The most spiritually dangerous kind of idolatry is idolatry of the heart.
Ezekiel 14 provides one of the clearest and most helpful discussions of idolatry in the Old Testament:
Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. And the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols.” (Ezek. 14:1–5)
We can learn at least five essential truths about idolatry from this passage.
1. The most significant and spiritually dangerous form of idolatry is idolatry of the heart. An idol of the heart is anything other than God that you allow to rule your heart. The heart is the control center of your personhood. When something other than God takes control of the thing that controls everything else in your life, you find yourself on a path to destruction.
2. When an idol controls our hearts, it shapes the way we live. An idol of the heart exercises inescapable influence over our thoughts, desires, words, and behavior. That’s why Ezekiel warns against setting a “stumbling block of his iniquity before [your] face” (14:4). Nothing that rules your heart, other than God, will lead you where God wants you to go.
3. No matter what we are seeking from God, the thing that he is most concerned about is that which controls our hearts. These leaders of Israel had questions for the Lord, but God wanted to talk about the things that had replaced his rule in their hearts.
4. God wants nothing less than the reclamation and rulership of our hearts. God will not share his rule over the hearts of his children with another. He is jealous for the surrender of our hearts to him and will accept nothing less.
5. Idolatry of the heart is why the person and work of Jesus are essential. Jesus came to break our bondage to anything or anyone besides him. Freedom from idolatry is possible only by the power of his rescuing grace.
Anything in creation can function as a God-replacement. What tends to replace God as the functional ruler of your heart? In what ways are you in need of his rescuing, liberating grace? That grace is yours because of the work Jesus has done on your behalf.