We all have idols that we worship. The Bible defines an idol as something we build for ourselves, then we turn around and worship it (Isaiah 44:6-23). They can be physical idols like Jupiter, Baal, Xochiquetzal, money, beauty, possessions, but they are just as likely invisible idols like success, power, pride, nationalism, religion, atheism, politics, etc.
The beauty of idolatry is that we get to make and control our own god (sometimes without realizing) and obedience to it can justify our darker interests. Having an idol lets me have my own desires and motives and still feel clean and justified. I worship it but it always points back to subjective me.
Thing is, the object we worship obviously has no inherent power – it can’t see or hear or feel or even save itself if the floor shakes or it slips out of our hands or … somebody nudges it and tips it over. An activity I like to call ‘idol tipping’.
Idols rest precariously on the shelves and mantles of our thoughts and passions and choices but clash directly with the One who showed us how to be free. They need to get tipped over.
A few years ago, after much reflection and restlessness, I had a crisis of conscience and I knew that I had to think differently about life if I was going to be faithful to God. I stepped away from church ministry and, although people were generally kind, few truly understood. As I look back now, I see that it was the idols that drove in the wedge – idols of doctrine, tradition, performance, judgement, to name a few without actually naming them.
My hope is to be a voice in the reparations. I don’t have a blueprint or plan but I do believe that the world needs God. A pure, good God as exemplified by Jesus. Everything else that gets in the way needs to get tipped over.
