"Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth." (Exodus 20:4)
The second commandment (see above) is one that many of you are familiar with. "Don't make an idol," God said. "You can't represent Me by wood or stone or metal or by associating Me with some other object in nature. I am God and I am above any representation that you could create." When we think of idols, perhaps our thoughts go to those things in our lives that we can love more than God, such as money, popularity, sports, or relationships. Either way, we know that nothing can compete with God (He made that clear in His first commandment, "Do not have other gods besides Me," Exodus 20:3). God is to be first, period, not just as the top of the list. He is not to be number one; He is to be the only one.
So, if we get rid of all these idols that take God's place we'll be fine. If it means ending a relationship, finding our sufficiency in Christ and not in what others think of us, and living by a responsible budget that allows us to give more for His kingdom then that's a good start, right? There's nothing wrong with those things, but I believe that when we address the issue of idols in our lives we overlook the most prominent one that we can bow down and worship. And that idol is you. And me. It's us.
Yes, I put the "I" in idol. And so did you. Boil it all down and many of the struggles that dog us in our relationship with God have their starting point in our worship of self. My desire to succeed, my need to control things so that they can satisfy my need for order, my constant attempts to get what I want, all of those are cemented in an idolatry of self where I go to the altar of me on a regular basis. If I get frustrated with my wife and kids for not being ready on time, it's because I am selfishly desiring for my schedule to be paramount to theirs. If I sigh under my breath when asked to volunteer to help with childcare, it's because that commitment frustrates my own agenda that I was open to operate under.
Oh, the idol of self is such a subtle deterrent. The more we sacrifice on its slab the easier it is for us to enter a cycle of blaming others while justifying our own decisions in life. Jesus taught us many things as He pointed the way to truth and salvation that was found only in the grace that He gives, yet perhaps no lesson spoke louder than the example that He lived on earth. His life was completely and utterly selfless. He often did without material things not so that people could pat Him on the back and tell Him how holy He was but rather because He did not worship the idol of self. This is why Jesus could say in Matthew 20:28 that He came not to be served but to serve and ultimately give His life away.
We all worship something. Most of us worship at the altar of self more often than we realize. In doing so, we give our lives away to something or someone else. The more that we keep our eyes and desires on Jesus as our all in all, the less we will focus on ourselves as an idol that is ultimately powerless to satisfy or give meaning to life.
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