Idolatry seems so Old Testament. I don’t see anyone today bowing down to golden calves, as they did in Moses’ day. It seemed that every time Moses turned around, people were paying homage to gods of their own making. Martin Luther said, “An idol is anything to run to for refuge in your time of need.” An idol is anything we think we need apart from God to make us happy, satisfied, or fulfilled. Idols are not only bad things. Idols can also be good things to which we give exaggerated importance. Idolatry gives ultimate value to things of relative importance. Augustine of Hippo’s name for it was “disordered loves.”
With this definition in mind, all kinds of idols come into play. We can make an idol out of anything. We can make an idol of food or career. We can idolize money, sex, exercise, appearance, control; you name it! Gerald May, who wrote a landmark book on addiction, Addiction and Grace, claimed, “We are all addicted in every sense of the word.” We are all addicted to something and worship gods of our own making. The Protestant reformer John Calvin (1509-1564) addressed idol-making in his Institutes for Christian Religion, “Human nature is, so to speak, a perpetual factory of idols…the human mind, full as it is of pride and boldness, dares to image a god according to its own capacity.” Calvin’s metaphor of the heart as an idol factory conjures up images in my mind of a conveyor belt in a manufacturing plant rolling out new widgets.
As we center today on John Calvin’s prayer, we ask God to graciously show us what we value most. What occupies our thoughts? How do we spend our money? How do we spend our time?